Responses of water insecure coastal communities of Tanzania to climate change impacts. Is it incremental or transformative adaptation?

ABSTRACT

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenges of the twenty-first century that requires significant responses. Its impacts have already been felt and projected to cause more impacts on sectors essential for economic development including freshwater resources. Although it is becoming clear that transformative adaptation is indispensable as climate change impacts increase, most adaptation strategies have largely been envisioned to be incremental with little attention to transformative adaptation. To fill part of such information gap, this paper assessed if responses of water insecure coastal communities of Tanzania are incremental or transformative. Simple random sampling procedure was used to obtain 97 households, while purposive sampling procedure was used to select key informants. Quantitative data were subjected to descriptive statistics, whereas qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. Results indicated that water security has decreased in the past 30 years. Most response strategies used by people in the area are incremental, weak and undesirable for effective as well as successful adaptation to climate change. This study recommends for development practitioners and other stakeholders to help local people institute transformative adaptation.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• transformative adaptation
• incremental adaptation
• water insecurity
• coastal communities
• Tanzania

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for research funding from the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED) and Center for Climate Change Studies, University of Dar es salaam.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mr. Bahati A. Magesa is an Assistant Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Geography and Economics at Dar es Salaam University College of Education. He holds a masters degree in Climate Change and Sustainable Development. His area of interest in research and Consultancy are Urban flooding Risks and Management Strategies, Climate Change Adaptation in Cities, Urban and coastal areas, and Water Security Challenges in Coastal Areas.

Dr. Noah M. Pauline is a Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Dar es Salaam, Center for Climate Change Studies (CCCS) and the Institute of Resources Assessment (IRA). He holds a PhD in Geography (Climate Change Adaptation). His area of interest in research and Consultancy are Environmental Management, Natural Resources Management and Climate Change Adaptation/Mitigation.