Zimbabwe Human Development Report 2017

The Zimbabwe Human Development Report 2017: Climate Change and Human Development: Towards Building a Climate Resilient Nation "has a special focus on issues pertaining to climate change. "The Government of Zimbabwe regards climate change as one of the threats to the country and its people and is of the view that climate change has the potential to undermine many of the positive achievements made in meeting the country’s development goals. The challenge for the country is to develop adaptation and mitigation strategies that will reduce the diverse, cross-cutting and adverse impacts of climate change and build a resilient nation (Government of Zimbabwe, 2015).

The ZHDR 2017 attempts to assess the state and trends of human development, defined as people’s ability to lead long and healthy lives, be knowledgeable, have a decent standard of living and participate in community life with dignity and self respect (UNDP, 2009), and how climate change threatens progress in achieving Zimbabwe’s targets for human and sustainable development. The Report also aims to inform Zimbabweans about significant conditions and trends in the country’s human development, as well as to support sustainable human development planning and decision making through provision of credible information."