Climate change and politics of blame in Zambia

Amon Shakemba

Chapter 16 in The Twin Digital and Green Transition, 2026, pp 274-284 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Climate change has proved to be a danger to the country's energy, business, and agriculture sectors. Livelihoods have been negatively affected because people mainly depend on farming. The change in weather patterns has led to one of the worst droughts Zambia has ever experienced in the last two decades. The government is taking action to mitigate the challenge. However, political actors use the climate change effect to criticise the government. Hence, this chapter aims to discuss climate change and the politics of blame in Zambia. The effects of climate change have led to the country's blame game. This study used secondary data. The findings indicate that the opposition political parties attribute climate problems to the ruling government. After winning political power, the blame shifts to the former ruling party. Opposition parties lack the political will to offer solutions; instead, they only criticise the government. Therefore, climate governance is being slowed in the country. The government's call for military intervention in food security is being challenged by opposition parties as a cause of the food shortage in the country. Moreover, opposition parties are becoming populist as they criticise the government and the ruling elites on the impact of climate change.

Keywords: Climate change; Government; Opposition political parties; Zambia; SDG 13 climate action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035364275
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