Exploring opportunities for climate change adaptation in semi arid areas of Tanzania: A case of Nzega District in Tabora region

Climate change and associated impacts are now widely acknowledged by most communities,institutions and organizations in the World to be affecting people’s livelihoods. The University of Dar esSalaam in Tanzania through the Institute of Resource Assessment (IRA) implemented a three yearsresearch program to study the implications of climate change on natural and social systems in threeagro ecolocilal zones in Tanzania. The present paper presents finding obtained from one of the zonesstudied namely semi arid central and western part. The study was conducted in two villages namelyUpungwe and Mbogwe located in Nzega District, Tabora region. A sample size of 99 people; that is,10% of the total number of households was used for household interviews. A total of 40 peoplestrategically selected were involved in focus group discussion, 20 from each village. Findings showthat different ethnic groups have moved into villages in response to climate change impacts in theirareas of origin. Climate change impacts in particular increased pests associated with temper rise andresulted in loss on various crop yields ranging from 46 to 80%. Most crops affected are in the ordercotton, rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts and maize, respectively. Different adaptation optionswere also reported but the most important was found to be different forms of linkages such as ruralurbanreported to be more viable by 39 to 68% of respondents while 48 to 62% reported such linkagesto be viable on adaptation. To strengthen adaptation rural-urban, urban-rural and rural-rural linkagesneeds to be facilitated so that products and information can flow from all ends.PITRO-UDSM progra