Bettina Koelle of Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre explores how climate science, despite its complexity and elements of uncertainty, can inform decision-making in Zambia. Climate extremes are already posing many challenges to people living in Zambia: droughts affect farmers and their livelihoods, heavy rainfall events lead to flooding in urban areas and bring hardship to people living in exposed areas in Lusaka, and high temperatures are affecting industries and water demands. While government and planning processes aim to respond to these challenges in the present day, but it is also important to consider what the effects of climate change will be in the medium term 5-40 years from now, and to plan for them. Climate scientists project that the already observed warming trend in Zambia will continue in the next 40 years. It’s highly likely that the country will also observe an overall drying trend. At the same time, more extreme rain events might occur. This will have far reaching implications for Zambians and will affect people’s lives and livelihoods… Read full article.