Mapping Climate Vulnerability of River Basin Communities in Tanzania to Inform Resilience Interventions

Abstract

Increasing climate variability and change coupled with steady population growth is threatening water resources and livelihoods of communities living in the Wami-Ruvu and Rufiji basins in Tanzania. These basins are host to three large urban centers, namely Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and Morogoro, with a combined total of more than 7 million people. Increased demand for ecosystem services from the available surface water resources and a decreasing supply of clean and safe water are exacerbating the vulnerability of communities in these basins. Several studies have analyzed climate projects in the two basins but little attention has been paid to identify locations that have vulnerable communities in a spatially-explicit form. To address this gap, we worked with stakeholders from national and local government agencies, basin water boards and the Water Resources Integration Development Initiative (WARIDI) project funded by USAID to map the vulnerability of communities to climate variability and change in the two basins. A generalized methodology for mapping social vulnerability to climate change was used to integrate biophysical and socioeconomic indicators of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity and produced climate vulnerability index maps. Our analysis identified vulnerability “hotspots” where communities are at a greater risk from climate stressors. The results from this study were used to identify priority sites and adaptation measures for the implementation of resilience building interventions and to train local government agencies and communities on climate change adaptation measures in the two basins.

Rapid environmental flow assessment for sustainable water resource management in Tanzania's Lower Rufiji River Basin: A scoping review

“…3 shows years of dry and wet years/seasons enough to tell the status of flow variability in the river basin. In addition to the findings, some other researchers have identified vulnerability hotspots in the Lower Rufiji river basin [ 24 ].

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Enhancing Access and Usage of Earth Observations in Environmental Decision-Making in Eastern and Southern Africa Through Capacity Building

“…Finally, another example of improvement in RCMRD's climate services following these capacity-building efforts is documented in Macharia et al (2020). Enhanced access to gridded EOs (mainly gridded precipitation and temperature data sets) allowed RCMRD and their partners on USAID's Water Resources Integration Development Initiative (WARIDI) project to provide high-resolution mapping of climate-related risks in several basins in Tanzania.…”

A Forward Future-Based Approach to Optimizing Agriculture and Climate Change Adaptation in Lower Eastern Kenya

“…There is no denying that the climate is changing, and fragmented areas with strained economies and coping mechanisms are most affected. The rising frequency and intensity of precipitation variations, heat waves, droughts and floods have all served as catalysts to rethink and re-evaluate climate adaptation investments, decisions and priorities [1][2][3]. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported the alarming increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the years, with agricultural production and its effects on land use contributing to these detrimental increases [4,5].…”