Improved drought and flood management in semi-arid transboundary basins requires a better understanding of the connections between dry and wet extremes, surface water and groundwater, upstream and downstream, and local communities and formal governance actors. This study describes a multi-disciplinary and mixed-methods research in the Limpopo River Basin, southern Africa. The methodology included hydrometeorological data analysis to identify drought and flood events, group discussions with 240 local community participants about drought and flood processes, impacts and preparedness, and interviews with 36 (inter)national and regional water managers and policymakers about drought and flood governance, early warning and communication. Additionally, we co-created drought and flood management scenarios through transboundary and national workshops and modelled these with an integrated surface water-groundwater model. We found that floods are crucial for aquifer recharge, providing baseflow during droughts, but also impactful for communities, who receive less training and support for floods than for droughts. Flood early warnings (if provided) are often not acted upon because of cultural values or limited resources. Drought and flood adaptation strategies were simulated to be effective, but factors like investment and maintenance costs, technical capacity and community uptake impact implementation. Furthermore, technical measures alone are inadequate to reduce community risk if underlying vulnerabilities are not addressed. Therefore, strengthening connections between communities and formal governance actors and better transboundary management of surface water and groundwater connections could yield significant benefits. Contribution: This study provides 11 distinct recommendations for managing drought and flood risk, focussing on the four connections analysed.

Purpose: Disaster management practices depend on societies' knowledge. As climate change rapidly reshapes knowledge, questions arise about how knowledge for disaster management is produced and (re)shaped in modern world and how effective it is to withstand the ever-growing frequency and magnitude of disasters. This paper discusses the dynamics of knowledge creation and its use for disaster management in Chokwe district, southern Mozambique.Design/methodology/approach: The study reviews historical archives to identify how disaster management knowledge has changed from pre-colonization to the present.Findings: Before colonization, local knowledge associated with traditions of asking gods and ancestors for rain and blessings in life prevailed. With colonization, around the 1500s, Portuguese rulers attempted to eliminate these local practices through an inflow of European settlers who disseminated scientific knowledge, built dams and irrigation schemes, which changed the region’s knowledge base and regimes of flooding and drought. After independence in 1975, the new government nationalized all the private property, expelled the settlers and imposed a socialist order. All knowledge on disaster management was dictated by the new government; those against this new order were sent to re-education centers implanted nationwide. Centralization of knowledge and power was, therefore, implanted. Socialism collapsed by the 1990s, and over time, there has been an amalgam of different knowledge bases and attempts to recognize local disaster management practices.Originality/value: The Chokwe case shows that knowledge for disaster management evolves with local socioeconomic, political and environmental changes.

The world is facing a pandemic of an unprecedented nature. By the end of October 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic had claimed over a million lives and forced lockdowns across the world. People were restricted in their movements and economies around the world are still in limbo. This article analyzes the impacts of Covid-19 on the Mozambican agricultural sector by the end of 2020 when the pandemic was still a novelty and there were no vaccines available. Using secondary data analysis and interviews, this paper argues that the agricultural sector, especially cash crops, has been pressured by a combination of pre-existing factors, including weather conditions, terrorist attacks, and the financial crisis, which were, then, exacerbated by the new challenges presented by Covid-19. The direct effects of Covid-19 on the Mozambican agricultural sector were (1) a limitation on imports of essential agricultural inputs such as seeds, pesticides and fertilizers, and (2) a considerable reduction in the production and export of cash crop products. In addition, we found that food crops, which are less dependent on the global market, were less impacted. Nevertheless, the long-term impacts remain unclear, and more research is needed to provide a comprehensive understanding. Based on the results, we recommend that the impacts of Covid-19 be analyzed and better understood using a holistic approach that integrates data on pre-existing conditions and their dynamics to model future scenarios. Finally, we recommend expanding investments in local production of essential agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, improved seeds and pesticides.

Climate-driven droughts pose major threats to rainfed farming worldwide. To address these impacts, smart agricultural approaches focusing on conservation practices (CPs) have been widely recommended by institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), among others. This systematic review synthesizes evidence on CPs for climate-driven drought adaptation and the barriers to their adoption in southern Mozambique, where drought is predominant. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, a comprehensive search across four academic databases retrieved 595 records (2000–April 2025), of which 23 were peer-reviewed studies. Data was extracted and analyzed using Microsoft Excel 365 and NVivo 15. As a result, five major CPs were identified: (i) Minimum tillage; (ii) Mulching and residue retention; (iii) Maize–legume (cowpea, groundnuts, pigeon pea, and soybeans) intercropping and crop rotation; (iv) Drought-tolerant maize varieties; and (v) indigenous practices. The systematic review has shown that minimum tillage was associated with 89–90% increase in maize and legume yields; Mulching expands maize yields by 24–59%; intercropping increases maize and legume yields by more than 30%; drought tolerant maize varieties expand yields by 26–46%; and local practices support farming continuity and contribute to resilience, although quantitative yield effects were not reported, with adoption ranging from 75–100%. These findings suggest that minimum tillage and intercropping/crop rotation are the most effective CPs in enhancing yield and resilience. Despite their potential, the adoption is generally low (average around 40%, with some as low as 7–16% for minimum tillage). Reasons for limited uptake include economic, cultural, institutional, biophysical, and technological barriers. These findings highlight the need for integrated policy approaches that combine climate-smart agriculture with indigenous knowledge in southern Mozambique.

Climate-driven droughts pose major threats to rainfed farming worldwide. To address these impacts, smart agricultural approaches focusing on conservation practices (CPs) have been widely recommended by institutions such as FAO, WFP, and IFAD, among others. This systematic review synthesizes evidence on CPs for climate-driven drought adaptation and the barriers to their adoption in southern Mozambique, where drought is predominant. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a comprehensive search across four academic databases retrieved 595 records (2000–April 2025), of which 23 were peer-reviewed studies. Data was extracted and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and NVivo 15. As a result, five major CPs were identified: (i) Minimum tillage; (ii) Mulching and residue retention; (iii) Maize–legume (cowpea, groundnuts, pigeon pea and soybeans) intercropping and crop rotation; (iv) Drought-tolerant maize varieties; and (v) indigenous practices. The systematic review has shown that minimum tillage was associated with 89–90% increase of maize and legume yields; Mulching expands maize yields by 24–59%; intercropping increases maize and legume yields by more than 30%; drought tolerant maize varieties expand yields by 26–46%; and local practices sustain yields while strengthening resilience, with adoption ranging from 75–100%. These findings suggest that minimum tillage and intercropping/crop rotation are the most effective CPs in enhancing yield and resilience. Despite their potential, the adoption is generally low (average around 40%, with some as low as 7–16% for minimum tillage). Reasons for limited uptake includes economic, cultural, institutional, biophysical and technological barriers.