Climate change and ecological sustainability in Zimbabwe: Interrogating the role of Higher Education Institutions in disaster management

Abstract

Zimbabwe has been hit by a number of cyclones in the last two decades, namely Cyclone Eline in 2000, Cyclone Japhet in 2003, Cyclone Dineo in 2017, Cyclone Idai in 2019, Tropical Storm Chalane in 2020, Cyclone Eloise in 2021, Cyclone Ana in 2022 and Cyclone Freddy in 2023. Resultantly, the issue of ecological sustainability becomes a key priority issue in the country, and thus, all key stakeholders’ participation becomes imperative. Against this background, the study interrogates the level of participation and inclusion of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in climate change and disaster management in Zimbabwe. This qualitative research adopted a mixed research approach where data were gathered and generated through self‐administered and online questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and document review. Findings revealed that the available laws, structures and mechanisms for climate change management and disaster prevention do not have provision for the participation of HEIs. The study further established mixed views among the participants regarding the efforts by HEIs in climate change and disaster management. On one hand, academics and students highlighted roles of HEIs in climate change management, and these include material donations, knowledge creation, training community on climate mainstreaming, awareness campaigns, leading climate change adaptation projects, leading climate change mitigation projects and testing and deployment of innovative practices. On the other, communities voiced their concern on the low level of participation by HEIs. Results illustrate that HEIs do not fully participate in ecological sustainability outside the academia realm. Therefore, the study concludes that in order to realize ecological sustainability, these policy gaps and inconsistences and failures could be bridged by allowing HEIs as centres of knowledge creation to be key players in climate change and disaster management. The ‘business as usual’ approach to environmental challenges could be changed to being key players in addressing climate change issues.