Zambia: Building Resilience to Climate Shocks

Selected Issues Papers, September 24, 2025

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Zambia: Building Resilience to Climate Shocks

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Bibliographic details

• Authors: Linda Spahia
• Published: September 24, 2025
• Series: Selected Issues Papers
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229025768.018

Overview

• Zambia faces growing challenges from climate-related natural disasters, particularly floods and droughts, which have become more frequent and severe in recent years.
• These events disproportionately affect the country’s large agricultural sector—especially vulnerable subsistence farmers.
• Reliance on hydroelectric power makes Zambia susceptible to drought-related disruptions in electricity supply, with cascading effects across the economy.
• Zambia has identified its adaptation priorities and developed a comprehensive legal and policy framework that aligns climate resilience with its long-term development agenda through national and sectoral strategies.
• Implementation remains constrained by limited coordination across government levels and the absence of robust systems to track climate-related expenditures within the national budget.
• Effective implementation will depend on Zambia’s ability to mobilize resources—both through domestic revenue and by attracting external financing.

Key Findings

• Climate-related natural disasters (floods and droughts) are increasing in frequency and severity.
• The agricultural sector, particularly subsistence farmers, is disproportionately affected.
• Hydroelectric dependence increases vulnerability to droughts and causes economy-wide cascading effects when electricity supply is disrupted.
• A comprehensive legal and policy framework exists that aligns climate resilience with long-term development via national and sectoral strategies.
• Major implementation gaps include limited coordination across government levels and no robust system to track climate-related expenditures in the national budget.

Policy and Implementation Challenges

• Coordination:
  • Limited coordination across government levels impedes effective implementation of adaptation strategies.
• Budgeting and Tracking:
  • Absence of robust systems to track climate-related expenditures within the national budget weakens fiscal transparency and prioritization for adaptation.
• Institutional Capacity:
  • Translating identified adaptation priorities and legal frameworks into operational programs requires stronger institutional capacity.

Resource Mobilization

• Effective implementation depends on mobilizing resources through:
  • Domestic revenue mobilization.
  • Attracting external financing.

Content in this bundle

• Zambia: Building Resilience to Climate Shocks; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/127; June 30, 2025
  • Zambia: Building Resilience to Climate Shocks; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/127; June 30, 2025 (Markdown version)
  • Zambia: Building Resilience to Climate Shocks; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/127; June 30, 2025 (PDF)