Malawi Country Report
This report examines the application of the Water Resilience Tracker for National Climate Planning tool to Malawi's climate change planning framework. Malawi, a landlocked southern African country, faces severe climate vulnerabilities including floods, droughts, and temperature increases projected to rise 1.1-3.0°C by the 2060s and 1.5-5.0°C by the 2090s, with rainfall becoming more concentrated in heavy events.
The Water Resilience Tracker assessment of eight key climate planning documents (including the 2021 NDC, National Resilience Strategy, and Draft Water Policy) reveals that while Malawi has strong foundations in recognizing water as a risk and sector, with robust governance frameworks and capacity building programs, significant opportunities exist to better integrate water as an opportunity in climate planning. Key gaps include inadequate consideration of water requirements for adaptation and mitigation actions, limited explicit tracking of sector-specific water use, insufficient integration of wetland ecosystems despite their importance, and weak connections between climate finance and water-sensitive investments.
The report recommends institutionalizing the Water Resilience Tracker through a Technical Working Group, using it as a learning tool for capacity building, and applying it iteratively to improve future climate planning documents by better integrating water considerations across all sectors.
