The Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON), which seeks to examine ways and means to grow and expand the country's climate financing and economic development mechanisms, runs from September 14 to 18 under the theme: "Building Resilience and Driving Economic Transformation under Climate Change".
The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, which is organising the conference, said it was working in conjunction with other ministries, departments and agencies, development partners and the private sector to make the event a success.
"The theme reflects the conference organisers' consensus that it is important to explore possibilities to drive economic growth while also building economic resilience in the face of the threats and challenges caused by climate change.
"Considering the vital link between climate dynamics and economic development, this theme will bring together various stakeholders, including policymakers, the private sector, and researchers, to examine ways and means to grow and expand Zimbabwe's climate financing and economic development mechanisms in a manner that is alive to the prevailing changes in local, regional and global climatic conditions.
"Exploring climate resilience and economic development mechanisms will help the country to adequately respond to the effects of climate change while maintaining the current economic development trajectory," reads the concept note.
The Ministry said it was important that countries across the globe find ways to circumvent climate change phenomena such as droughts.
These phenomena were causing rainfall and food shortages which resulted in reduced economic growth among many other climate induced shocks.
"Zimbabwe is one of the countries severely impacted by the current El Nino-induced drought, making this conference a vital opportunity of informing national policy to effectively respond to the devastating effects of climate change, both immediate and long-term.
"Zimbabwe, and many other countries in Africa, continues to incur substantial expenditure to combat the effects of climate related disasters, thereby diverting scarce resources from investments in socio-economic development programmes.
"This therefore, threatens national prosperity. Considering the reported effects of climate change across several countries ranging from heat waves, flash floods, landslides, drying rivers and melting of glaciers, it is imperative for Zimbabwe to explore ways in which to build climate resilience mechanisms while effectively responding to climate shocks in the economy," said the Ministry.
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The broad aims of the conference were to bring together researchers, academia, policy makers, civil society organisations, and development partners to discuss policy implications of climate change.
It seeks to promote knowledge management as an important driver of policy dialogue, good policy planning and implementation, foster dialogue that promoted the exchange of ideas and innovative thinking among researchers, development practitioners and policymakers, and encourage and enhance research on economic and policy issues related to the development of the economy.
The enhanced research would promote evidence-based policymaking, provide an opportunity for young researchers, diasporans, and private organisations to share knowledge with policymakers, and serve as a platform for researchers, policymakers, and private sector operators to meet and have consensus on how the country can integrate with regional and international counterparts in an endeavour to accelerate inclusive and sustainable development.
