Area:

390 757 km

Population:

13 Million

Climate:

The mean annual temperature varies from 18°C in the highveld to 23°C in the lowveld. The highveld experiences some frost in June or July in most years and temperatures rise up to 30°C around October. In the lowveld region, temperatures rarely fall below 2°C in winter but can rise to over 40° C in summer. The annual rainfall ranges from 300 mm in the south to over 1 000 mm in the north-east.

Natural Resources:

The composition of GDP by sector is as follows: agriculture contributes about 20%, industry 25% while services contribute about 55%.

Agriculture:

Agriculture in Zimbabwe can be divided into two parts: industrialized farming of crops such as cotton, tobacco, coffee, peanuts and various fruits and subsistence farming with staple crops such as maize or wheat. The former of the two was almost exclusively in the hands of the white minority until the highly controversial and disastrous land redistribution program that started in 2000. This part of the agricultural economy was highly profitable and large amounts of the produce were exported. Subsistence farming is important for the black majority and has gained importance under the land redistribution program. Industrialized farming was once the backbone of the domestic Zimbabwean economy and contributed up to 40% of the exported produce.

Climate Vulnerabilities:

Zimbabwe being a country within the tropics makes it vulnerable to climate change through shifting rainfall and agricultural patterns, water resources, vegetation and forestry. It is also vulnerable to high incidence of malaria cases. Critical areas of potential climate change impacts are related to water supply and food security. The country is already prone to droughts which have become more recurrent over the last two decades.

Source:

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/zimnc1.pdf

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