This Country Situation Assessment (CSA) report seeks to provide an initial
analysis of the past and current climate in Tanzania and to identify solutions to
the complex challenges of natural resource management, economic
development, poverty alleviation and resilience-building in the context of
climate change.
It focuses on a few selected arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) in the country
and pays particular attention to rainfall climatology for the 1960-1990 and
1971-2000 baseline periods. The report indicates a slight decrease in rainfall
in the latter climatological period. It also indicates that, although there has
been no significant trend in rainfall at the central ASAL stations, there has
been a significant positive temperature trend in both maximum and minimum
temperatures at the two stations observed.
The trend in minimum temperatures has been more pronounced and much
faster compared with the trend in maximum temperatures. This result is
consistent with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
findings and other observations in different parts of the globe. Nevertheless, it
is important, and it will be more useful, to obtain more elaborate temperature
and rainfall datasets from more ASALs of Tanzania to enable a detailed and
thorough analysis.
Initial results also indicate that ASALs of Tanzania are endowed with various
development opportunities. These include climate-smart agriculture, smallscale
mining, sustainable pastoralism and community-based wildlife resource
management. The roles of different actors in facilitating these opportunities
will be the subject matter of future stakeholder engagement workshops and
research that will aim to provide policy-makers with practical guidance on
inclusive, climate-resilient development and to support emerging good
adaptation practices within the ASALs of Tanzania.
The report also identifies several challenges that affect livelihood systems and
sustainable natural resource management in ASALs, both climatic and nonclimatic.
Since climate change has implications for performance in several
sectors, integrated approaches are necessary. These interventions need to
consider the challenges and opportunities of various sectors (e.g. agriculture,
livestock, water, energy, wildlife, forestry, mining, etc.) in ASALs in
contributing to enhancing resilience.