The Most Vulnerable and High-Risk Groups Sensitive to Impacts of Climate Change in Arusha Region, Tanzania

The study investigated the groups that are more vulnerable and at high risk of climate change impact among the population of the Arusha Region, where four districts out of these seven districts were purposively picked, namely Longido, Arumeru, Arusha Urban, and Karatu districts. A cross-sectional research design was adopted in this study. The systematic random sampling method was used to obtain a sample size. The sample size was 300 respondents. To explore the most vulnerable and high risked groups to impacts of climate change among the population in Arusha region, eight socioeconomic variables such as age, sex, physical ability, topographical location, house status, degree of urbanization, income status, and occupational status were investigated. The findings indicate that children and older adults aged 65> years and above, women, disabled, people in lowlands, rural dwellers, crop cultivator, temporary houses, and lower-income earners are the most vulnerable and high risked groups to impacts of climate change. The chi-square test result of association indicates that there is a statistically significant relationship between (gender, age, physical ability of the population, topographical location, occupational type of the population, degree of urbanization, and type of residential houses of the population) and climate change impacts. However, the chi-square test result of association indicates no statistically significant relationship between the level of income and the effects of climate change. The study concludes that some groups in the population are more vulnerable and high risk to climate change than others because of their location, age, health, income, occupation, and how they go about their day-to-day lives. The study recommends that the government organs critically offer assistance to the mentioned groups by formulating a friendly framework for adaptability and mitigation of climate change impacts.