Local ecological knowledge on the impacts of climate change and variability on riparian based ecosystem services in semi-arid parts of Zimbabwe

Riparian ecosystems are faced with a variety of anthropogenic and climate change induced threats which undermine their ability to provide goods and services to sustain livelihoods. The main objective of this paper is to explore local ecological knowledge on the impacts of climate change and variability on riparian based ecosystem services in semi-arid parts of Zimbabwe. The research adopted a mixed approach involving participatory rural appraisal comprising ward level focus group discussions, key informant interviews, household questionnaire surveys, and field observations. Three districts (Chiredzi, Mbire, and Mwenezi) located in drought-prone arid parts of the country were purposively selected for the study. Data were analysed using Excel and R software. Rainfall trend test results for the three districts show significant changes for the wet season months October ( p = 0.000), November ( p = 0.034), January ( p = 0.005) and February ( p = 0.001); and for the dry season months June ( p = 0.02) and July ( p = 0.035). Household respondents reported that they were mostly exposed to high risk from drought, prolonged dry spells and late rains across with subsequent decrease in river flow for the sampled rivers. The riparian zone has seen a remarkable decrease in provisioning ecosystem goods and services over the past 5 years due to climate change, for instance fish from the river have decreased. Findings from cross-tabulations indicated that a total of 363 (60 %) females perceivedclimate related hazards imposed a high impact on provisioning services.. On the other hand, Chi-square results show that respondents’ knowledge of the impacts of climate risks on provisioningl services is significantly influenced by gender ( p = 0.01). Future work should focus on community participatory mapping and monitoring of ecosystem goods and services and ecological status of the riparian zone, with potential for restoration of the habitats.