"As people accept that climate change is
real and here to stay,
they
are likely to realize that while
reducing greenhouse gas emissions is all about
energy,
adapting to climate change will be all about water."
 |
| Children carrying water. Photo courtesy of http://www.ids.ac.uk/news/making-social-protection-climate-smart |
Africa
is considered to be one of the most vulnerable continents to climate
variability because of the multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity. Additionally, poor communities typically have
limited adaptive capacity with limited political, economic, and informational
resources.
Tanzania is no exception.
Climate change in Tanzania will
impact the water, agricultural, forest, health, energy, and economic
sectors. Agriculture is especially
vulnerable because 80% of people in Tanzania are employed in the agricultural
sector and agriculture accounts for 45% of the national GDP, and variable
precipitation could lower yields and threaten food security and the economy. Most Tanzanians rely on maize as their main
food source and maize yields are predicted to decline due to climate change,
which would have major impacts on food security, poverty, and hunger. Additionally, access to clean water could be at risk. For the entire continent of Africa, projections show that by 2025 75- 250 million Africans may be at an increased water stress due to climate change. Tanzania's economic performance also relies on access to water and water shortages from the 2003 drought are estimated to have cut economic growth by 10% for the year. Furthermore, hydropower is important in Tanzania, and currently represents 50 - 60% of energy production.
So how are communities adapting to climate change?
The Community Water Initiative, a
program of the United Nations Development Programme, has two projects in
Tanzania. One project ran from 2001 to
2006 and aimed to improve infrastructure by building a solar powered water
supply and irrigation system. This
project took place in Chanyauru, which lies on the shore of Lake Victoria. The project benefited over 1,000 villagers
and made irrigation available to improve food security and increased income in
addition to improve accessibility of water for domestic purposes. The second project undertaken by the CWI was
in Moshi and focused on recycling waste water for paddy irrigation farming. This project took place from 2006 to 2008 and
helped build a waste water treatment system to be used for irrigation.
While these projects, and others like
it, are a start to helping vulnerable communities in East Africa adapt to the
impacts of climate change, they are just a start. More needs to be done in order to prevent devastating
consequences in an already poor area of the world.
This is an excellent short video discussing climate change adaptation in Tanzania!
Courtesy of youtube.com
