Abstract
Over recent decades, there has been substantial change in Zanzibar, due to, among others, global climate change impacts. The semi-autonomous polity faces challenges to foster resilient urban communities and planning for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, not least because of its island nature and rapid urbanization. This article addresses urban and environmental planning measures from 2010 to 2020 aimed at confronting the impacts of climate change and working toward resilience and adaptation in urban Zanzibar. The study was conducted between June and August 2020, and primarily involved a combination of desktop studies, online discussions, and virtual meetings with key actors in the land, climate, and disaster risk policy and governance aspects in Zanzibar. The review provides information on the current responses to policy, legal and institutional setup in terms of the key issues related to land use, climate and disaster risk reduction in Zanzibar. Thematic analysis was used to connect land-use planning, climate adaptation, and disaster risk reduction documentation of the situational assessment, determination and respective recommendations concerning land use and climate adaptation. It is argued that planning for climate change requires greater social will, financial investment, and the conversion of science to policy than currently exists in Zanzibar. Dynamic individual and governmental efforts and select community engagement are likely insufficient to produce resilience, as large-scale donor-funded climate adaptation interventions are largely top-down in orientation and often miss out on local community-oriented climate solutions. Smaller NGOs are more practical for understanding and addressing community-oriented priorities to support climate-resilient initiatives and enhance local livelihood priorities and participation against climate impacts, including natural disasters and everyday degradation. The article concludes with policy recommendations both specific to Zanzibar and relevant across the region.
Highlights
Die afgelope dekades het daar aansien like verandering in Zanzibar plaasgevind, onder meer weens die wêreldwye impak op klimaatsverandering
The study entailed the desktop review of relevant policies, strategies, legislation, documentation, and grey literature related to climate, disaster risk and land-use planning in Zanzibar
The key focus was to address progress, opportunities, and challenges that Zanzibar faced in the midst of the Government of Zanzibar’s efforts to address climate change adaptation, disaster risk preparedness and land-use planning – under resource limitations
Summary
Die afgelope dekades het daar aansien like verandering in Zanzibar plaasgevind, onder meer weens die wêreldwye impak op klimaatsverandering. Since 1990, the semi-autonomous polity within the United Republic of Tanzania has experienced the re-introduction of both a multiparty political system and a capitalist economy built primarily around tourism (Keshodkar, 2013: 55-86; Gössling, 2002: 540-541; times the size it was (less than 50,000) in 1963 (Myers, 1993: 347; Muhajir, 2020: 28) This rapid pace of urbanization comes with a sprawling geographical footprint, since most of the residential development consists of single-family homes, compounding sustainability challenges in spheres such as solid waste management, air and water pollution, soil and beach erosion, and environmental
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