Climate Variability, Impacts and Adaptation Strategies: The Case of Mbeya and Makete Districts in Great Ruaha Catchment in Tanzania

Shadrack Mwakalila

doi:10.4236/jwarp.2014.61007

Abstract

This paper presented key findings from the study which aimed to assess the impacts of climate variability and local adaptation strategies in selected villages of Mbeya and Makete Districts located in the most upper Great Ruaha River catchment in Southern Tanzania. Together, the study districts cover a wide range of climate change related hazards. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used for data collection and analysis. The study shows that, there is significant change in pattern and amount of rainfall contributing to water stress, making people more vulnerable. Local communities are adapting to spatial and temporal climate variability, with varying degrees of success. Traditional smallholder irrigated systems used as adaptation strategies for crop production are characterized by low water use efficiency and high water losses. This implies that, if irrigation is managed properly, it can lead to sustainable increases in small farmer’s productivity and income, thus alleviating rural poverty and enhancing environmental management objectives.

Highlights

Climate change is one of the great challenges facing the Great Ruaha River Catchment in Tanzania (Figure 1)
Water resource adaptation options need to be able to function under uncertain future climate change, but many adaptation measures do not sufficiently account for this [4]
This paper presented key findings from the study which aimed to assess the impacts of climate variability and local adaptation strategies in selected villages of Mbeya and Makete Districts located in Great Ruaha River catchment in Southern Tanzania

Summary

Introduction

Climate change is one of the great challenges facing the Great Ruaha River Catchment in Tanzania (Figure 1). The building of dams and large-scale irrigation systems for example cannot completely protect against floods and can damage the adaptation capacity of other sectors, an example of maladaptation [5]. Technical measures such as desalination, pumping of deep groundwater, and water treatment are very resource intensive [4].

Methods

Results

Conclusion