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Analysis of climate variability, perceptions and coping strategies of Tanzanian coastal forest dependent communities
No full textThis article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2014.32020Climate variability and change are among the biggest challenges of the 21st century. Like in many
other areas globally, the coastal communities of Tanzania have always been facing climatic variability
at various time scales. Using focus group discussion and a household survey, this study analyzes
the perceptions of climate variability and change and the strategies for coping and adaptation
by the selected coastal rural and peri-urban communities in Tanzania. The perception of climate
variability and change is complemented with the time-series analysis of rainfall and temperature
data from Julius Nyerere International Airport Met. station and Kisarawe using Instant
Statistical Software. Results indicate that households are aware of climate variability and identify
indicators of climate change and variability as being decreasing rainfall trends, increasing incidences
of droughts, unpredictable rainfall patterns, disappearance of wetlands and failure to predict
on-set of rainy season using traditional knowledge. Households primarily attribute reduced
crop yields to changes in rainfall pattern and increasing incidences of drought leading to soil
moisture stress. The implications are that the agriculture dependent households are now food insecure.
As a way of coping to the observed changes, the coastal communities among others have
shifted to production of high value horticultural crops and use of forest resources. Nevertheless,
the increased use of forest resources is threatening the existence of coastal forests and contributes
to the decline of forest resources and disappearance of wildlife in the forest reserves. It is
concluded that the communities studied are aware of climate issues as revealed from perceived
indicators of climate variability and changes. The results from statistical analysis of 30 years climatic
data are consistent with community’s perception of climate variability and change. The
study recommends examining the present coping strategies for the sustainability of the coastal forests and in designing of alternative adaptive strategies such as alternative energy options, crop
diversification and environmental friendly activities such as beekeeping.NORAD funded research programme—Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (CCIAM
Analysis of tropospheric radio refractivity over Julius Nyerere International Airport, Dar es Salaam
No full textmeteorological parameters-is of fundamental importance in planning and advancing
the understanding of radio wave propagation and wireless communication systems
within the troposphere. The vertical profiles of radio refractivity gradient (G) within
1km above the earth’s surface are important for the estimation of anomalous
propagation (AP) of microwave radiation. Furthermore the effect of AP in weather
radar measurements may be important as spurious echoes from distant ground
targets may appear as precipitation leading to incorrect rainfall estimations. AP may
also affect dramatically the quality of clear air radar observations. In this paper,we
present the vertical and temporal variations of refractive index represented by
refractivity (N-units) and refractivity gradient (G) (N-units km-1) in the troposphere
to evaluate the occurrence of AP over Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA),
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Meteorological data of air temperature, relative humidity,
and atmospheric pressure collected from radiosonde station at JNIA during January,
February, August, 2012 and September, October, and November, 2013, were used to
compute refractivity, refractive index and refractivity gradient. The percentage of
occurrences of super-refraction, sub-refraction, normal-refraction and ducting
conditions are presented. Results reveal that, the tropospheric radio wave
propagation conditions over JNIA have varying degree of occurrence with normalrefraction
conditions prevalent at all the levels except in February, 2012. During
this month, super-refraction and normal-refraction conditions have prevailed at the
altitude of 1km. The presented results in this paper indicate how the variation in
meteorological parameters such as humidity and temperature in the lower
troposphere can cause AP. These results can be used by air traffic controllers at:
Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) surveillance radar, which is located at JNIA and TMA weather radar, which is located 10km from JNIA, to improve performance of their radars to detect and eliminate false echoes from AP of the radar beam
Modelling climate change adaption in vulnerable crop and livestock production systems in Mgeta, Tanzania
No full textAvailable in Proceedings of the International Conference on Reducing Climate Change Challenges through Forestry and Other Land Use PracticesIncreased occurrences of draught and dry spells during growing seasons have resulted in increased interest for protection of tropical water catchment areas. In the paper, we examine opportunities for improving economic performance and explore more environmental sustainable adaptation strategies in the integrated crop-livestock production systems in Mgeta, a water catchment area in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. In Mgeta water for fruit and vegetable production is provided through canals from the Uluguru forest reserve. The clearing of forest land for cultivation in the steep slopes is causing severe land degradation, threatening the water source, livelihoods and food security of the local communities as well as major population centers in the lowlands. A linear programming (LP) crop-livestock model, maximizing farm income, is applied for studying the economic performance of dairy goats in the production system today and in a scenario with lower crop yields and increased variability due to climate change. Data obtained from a questionnaire to a sample of farmers were used to develop and parameterize the model. The assessments suggest that in the steep slopes of the area a crop-dairy goat system with extensive use of grass and MPPT will do better under climate change since the yield variation of the grass and MPPT system is less affected compared to vegetable crops due to more tree cover and the perennial grasses. Currently goat milk production is limited by inadequate feeding, and farmers should purchase more concentrate feed to enhance production of the dairy goats. Policy measures to promote such a development are briefly mentioned.Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (CCIAM) Programme funded through the Norwegian embassy in Tanzani
Implications of present and future landcover change on small holder agriculture within the context of REDD+ in Tanzania: a case of Mgori forests in Singida rural District
No full textAvailable in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Reducing Climate Change Challenges through Forestry and Other Land Use PracticesMgori forest is located in Singida Rural district and is under Community Based Forest Management (CBFM). The forest has maintained its forest status and in general has demonstrated its potential for Reduced Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation and conservation (REDD+) implementation because; i) communities living adjacent to these forest have experience on forest management practices; iii), have realized benefits from the forest including climate change mitigation and iv) they have willingness to conserve the forests and have very high expectations to get benefit in terms of financial emanating from carbon trade. The present study investigated the present and future land use and cover changes for years 2020, 2030 up to 2040. A cross tabulation analysis method was used to detect and explain changes, while future land and cover change was established using Markov Chain-Cellular automata analysis. The state of land cover at time 2 was predicted by observing a state of land cover at time 1 using a matrix of transition probabilities from one land cover to every other land cover. Findings in Mgori forest predictions showed that cultivated, bushland and thickets land covers will increase by 2020 and thereafter remain constant while woodlands will decrease by 2020 and then remain constant. It can therefore be concluded that for areas already under CBFM what is required under REDD+ is to improve the management of agricultural land to sustain productivity as the room for much expansion of land is not warranted. This can be achieved through capacity building to farmers and other agricultural stakeholders through their local agricultural innovation systems.Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (CCIAM) Programme funded through the Norwegian embassy in Tanzani
Impacts of climate variability and land use land cover change on stream flow in the little Ruaha river catchment, Tanzania
No full textMSc-Thesis in Forest Resource Assessment and ManagementA study was conducted to investigate the hydrological impacts of land use land-cover
changes and climate variability on stream flow of the Little Ruaha River. Remote sensing
and GIS techniques and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model were used.
Landsat TM and ETM+ images of 1990, 1998 and 2011 were used to locate and quantify
the changes which have occurred in the catchment. The reason to select these periods was
to get good and clear images; there were no clear images for 1980.The study revealed a
significant change in land use land cover within a period of 21 years. Between 1990and
1998, the woodland and wetland covers declined by 2.6% and 9% per year, and 1998 and
2011 declined by 1.4% and 3.1% per year, respectively .Physical based SWAT model
was calibrated for the period 2000 to 2006 based on the available climatic data and was
validated for the period 2007 to 2009. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (ENS) and
coefficient of determination (R2) for annual flow were 58% and 65% respectively during
calibration period and 72.68% and 77.35% during validation period respectively. Both
land use land cover change and climate variability decreased runoff by 23% and 59.67%
respectively. The climate variability influenced the surface hydrology more significantly
than land use land cover change in Little Ruaha River catchment. The study concludes
that, the modification of the land use and land cover and climate variability has resulted
in changes in temporal distribution of runoff. The study highlights the importance of
considering effects of land use land cover changes and climate variability on ecosystems
and water resources for an informed decision on proper catchment planning and
management.Non
Homogeneity of monthly mean air temperature of the United Republic of Tanzania with HOMER
No full textthe paper have already publishedThe long-term climate datasets are widely used in a variety of climate analyses. These datasets, however, have been adversely impacted by inhomogeneities caused by, for example relocations of meteorological station, change of land use cover surrounding the weather stations, substitution of meteorological station, changes of shelters, changes of instrumentation due to its failure or damage, and change of observation hours. If these in homogeneities are not detected and adjusted properly, the results of climate analyses using these data can be erroneous. In this paper for the first time, monthly mean air temperatures of the United Republic of Tanzania are homogenized by using HOMER software package. This software is one of the most recent homogenization software and exhibited the best results in the comparative analysis performed within the COST Action ES0601 (HOME). Monthly mean minimum (TN) and maximum (TX) air temperatures from 1974 to 2012 were used in the analysis. These datasets were obtained from Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA). The analysis reveals a larger number of artificial break points in TX (12 breaks) than TN (5 breaks) time series. The homogenization process was assessed by comparing results obtained with Correlation analysis and Principal Component analysis (PCA) of homogenized and non-homogenized datasets. Mann-Kendal non-parametric test was used to estimate the existence, magnitude and statistical significance of potential trends in the homogenized and non-homogenized time series. Correlation analysis reveals stronger correlation in homogenized TX than TN in relation to non-homogenized time series. Results from PCA suggest that the explained variances of the principal components are higher in homogenized TX than TN in relation to non-homogenized time series. Mann-Kendal non-parametric test reveals that the number of statistical significant trend increases higher with homogenized TX (96%) than TN (67%) in relation to non-homogenized datasets.The Authors would like to acknowledge the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and Meteo France for
providing funding support on the training course on climatology
foundation for climate services, where training
on homogenization of climate dataset using HOMER
software packages was given. Authors are grateful to the
Tanzania Meteorological Agency for providing data used
in this study
Impact of mercury use in artisanal gold mining on community health: Kahama case study, Tanzania
No full textThis study is part of the main research carried out in 2010 which investigated social economic impact of uncontrolled artisanal mining on local communities and the environment using a case study of sampled gold mining sites in selected villages in Lunguya and Segese wards in Kahama District, Tanzania. The methodology involved a study sample size of 210 households forming 70% of the targeted mining villages. They were interviewed on various social economic variables related to artisanal mining and environmental issues in the study area. Interviews to respondents were counterchecked by medical laboratory examination records to validate the results on the impact of mercury use by uncontrolled artisanal mining activities on human health and the local environment at large. In short, uncontrolled artisanal miners' practices of site clearing of trees to give way .to open cast mining in extraction of ore; and washing processes involving use of mercury in shallow ponds which frequently acted as sources of domestic water compounded the polluting effects to human population in the study area. Laboratory investigation results indicated that there were mercury concentrations in soil and water ranged between 0.012 mg/kg in water to 0.85mg/kg in soil with pH ranged from 2.8 (acidic) in the water that miners re-used in the processing of gold ore, to 4.1 in the water pool, for example, at Kakola in Lunguya ward where residents used the same water for domestic purposes; while soil acidification recorded (2.7) pH. In the overall, 89% of interviewed respondents in the study area stated they partially benefited economically through self-employment gained from artisanal gold mining at the expense human health and environmental pollution and degradation in general. This study concluded that although the community in the study area apparently gained economic benefits from artisanal gold mining; the consequent public ill-health and environmental hazards outweighed the benefit gained. The study recommended to the government, law enforcers and other stakeholders at different levels to take immediate safety measures to ensure safe artisanal gold mining for sustainable development. This to be paralleled by community awareness building on the negative effects of poor mining methods in order to take collective remedial action for the welfare of the local community and the nation at large
Potential of carbon storage in major soil types of the Miombo woodland ecosystem, Tanzania: A review
No full textThis article is available at http://acascipub.com/Journals.phpThis review was undertaken to explore the potential of soils to sequester and store large quantities of carbon (C) in the form of soil organic carbon (SOC) from the view point of global climate change regulation and reduced CO2 emissions. Miombo woodland forest soils are an important sink of atmospheric C. The major soils found in the Miombo woodlands include: Cambisols (Inceptisols), Leptosols, and Fluvisols (Entisols), Luvisols (Alfisols), Acrisols (Ultisols), Ferralsols (Oxisols), and Vertisols (FAO-WRB classification system and USDA- Soil Taxonomy). The soils differed in physico-chemical properties and exhibited differences in morphological characteristics, nutrient status and SOC storage, suggesting a remarkable variation in potential, constraints and management strategies for the different soil types. The review underscored the potential of soils as one among the important strategies in fighting against climate change due to the presence of soil humus that stabilizes soil organic carbon for a long period of time. Overall, Miombo woodland soils have a high potential for storing substantial SOC stocks. Miombo are composed of different tree species (average of 45 species per biome) with differences in C storage capacity. Thus, strengthening land/forest conservation could lead to build up of SOC stocks that would contribute to global climate change regulation
Climate-smart landscapes: opportunities and challenges for integrating adaptation and mitigation in tropical agriculture
No full textThis article is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12066/fullAddressing the global challenges of climate change, food security, and poverty
alleviation requires enhancing the adaptive capacity and mitigation potential
of agricultural landscapes across the tropics. However, adaptation and mitigation
activities tend to be approached separately due to a variety of technical,
political, financial, and socioeconomic constraints. Here, we demonstrate that
many tropical agricultural systems can provide both mitigation and adaptation
benefits if they are designed and managed appropriately and if the larger landscape
context is considered. Many of the activities needed for adaptation and
mitigation in tropical agricultural landscapes are the same needed for sustainable
agriculture more generally, but thinking at the landscape scale opens a
new dimension for achieving synergies. Intentional integration of adaptation
and mitigation activities in agricultural landscapes offers significant benefits
that go beyond the scope of climate change to food security, biodiversity conservation,
and poverty alleviation. However, achieving these objectives will
require transformative changes in current policies, institutional arrangements,
and funding mechanisms to foster broad-scale adoption of climate-smart approaches
in agricultural landscapes.European Union (EU) and with technical support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD
The role of indigenous knowledge on climate change adaptation in agriculture in Sabo gari local government area, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
No full textMSc.- Thesis in Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable AgricultureAfrica is one of the most prone continents to climate change impacts because of its
dependence on climate sensitive sectors including rain-fed agriculture. Recent studies
predicted that global agricultural share to GDP could shrink by 4 percent due to climate
change by 2100. Hence, the study examined the role of indigenous knowledge on climate
change adaptation in agriculture in Sabo Gari LGA, Kaduna State, Nigeria where little
documentation has been done. Using a cross-sectional design, five villages were
purposively selected whereby 30 households were randomly selected from each village
making 150 respondents in total. Household surveys and key informant interviews were
used in data collection. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Quantitative
data were analysed through a Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Both descriptive and
inferential statistical analyses were done whilst, qualitative data were analysed through
content analysis. The study showed a high level of climate change awareness among the
farmers. Negative effects of climate change include drought, irregular rains, crop pests
and diseases. Indigenous adaptation strategies used in the study area include crop rotation,
application of farmyard manure, irrigation, mixed cropping, wood ash application and
intercropping whereby, application of farmyard manure ranked highest strategy for
climate adaptation but mainly for poor households. Farmers also have the ability to use
their indigenous knowledge to predict weather conditions. Marital status significantly
enhanced the use of FYM while age of the farmer significantly constrained the use of
farmyard manure. In conclusion, indigenous practises are very effective in adapting to
climate change and still being practised by farmers in the study area in improving their
agricultural productivity. Therefore, it is recommended that research institutions and
policy makers, should promote the use of indigenous adaptation strategies.Non