**Climate Hazards**

**Chapter 3**

Provisional chapter

**Farmers' Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts in**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72108

This chapter reports on the study conducted in semi-arid environment in Iramba and Meatu districts to examine gender vulnerability and adaptations to climate change impacts. The study adopted qualitative approach that brought together smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists to discuss issues, in nine focus group discussions, in three villages. A total of 99 participants were involved. The results showed that the major climatic hazards since 1985 were, among others, drought, floods, strong wind accompanied with "ice falling," and crop and livestock diseases including malaria and cholera that affected humans. Their frequencies were reported to be on the increase, especially since the 2000s. Such hazards negatively affected livelihoods resources like land, livestock, human and water resource that in turn affected communities' livelihoods. Men and women had developed different coping and adaptation strategies, which had not changed much in the past 30 years. Men's strategies were related to mobility contrary to women counterparts. The chapter concludes that women and children were more vulnerable due to factors like limited control over livelihoods resources, limited mobility, domestic chores and the general subordinate position in the communities. Concerted integrated programmes from

Farmers' Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts in

**Semi-arid Environments in Tanzania: A Gender**

Semi-arid Environments in Tanzania: A Gender

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

various stakeholders are required to rectify an existing situation.

Keywords: vulnerability trends, climate change, community livelihoods

In Tanzania, vulnerability to climate change impact jeopardizes development efforts through directing available resources to reducing or curbing short-term and long-term impacts. The body of literature on climate change has increased considerably since the 2000. Some writers including Nombo et al. [1] have reported climate change impacts that are differentiated by gender. However, gender vulnerability is not sufficiently explored. The concept of vulnerability to climate

> © The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and eproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72108

**Perspective**

Perspective

Samwel J. Kabote

Samwel J. Kabote

Abstract

1. Introduction

#### **Farmers' Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts in Semi-arid Environments in Tanzania: A Gender Perspective** Farmers' Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts in Semi-arid Environments in Tanzania: A Gender Perspective

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72108

Samwel J. Kabote Samwel J. Kabote

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72108

#### Abstract

This chapter reports on the study conducted in semi-arid environment in Iramba and Meatu districts to examine gender vulnerability and adaptations to climate change impacts. The study adopted qualitative approach that brought together smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists to discuss issues, in nine focus group discussions, in three villages. A total of 99 participants were involved. The results showed that the major climatic hazards since 1985 were, among others, drought, floods, strong wind accompanied with "ice falling," and crop and livestock diseases including malaria and cholera that affected humans. Their frequencies were reported to be on the increase, especially since the 2000s. Such hazards negatively affected livelihoods resources like land, livestock, human and water resource that in turn affected communities' livelihoods. Men and women had developed different coping and adaptation strategies, which had not changed much in the past 30 years. Men's strategies were related to mobility contrary to women counterparts. The chapter concludes that women and children were more vulnerable due to factors like limited control over livelihoods resources, limited mobility, domestic chores and the general subordinate position in the communities. Concerted integrated programmes from various stakeholders are required to rectify an existing situation.

Keywords: vulnerability trends, climate change, community livelihoods

### 1. Introduction

In Tanzania, vulnerability to climate change impact jeopardizes development efforts through directing available resources to reducing or curbing short-term and long-term impacts. The body of literature on climate change has increased considerably since the 2000. Some writers including Nombo et al. [1] have reported climate change impacts that are differentiated by gender. However, gender vulnerability is not sufficiently explored. The concept of vulnerability to climate

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and eproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

change is viewed to include outcome vulnerability that connotes outcome of climate change impacts as adopted in this chapter. It is also taken as contextual vulnerability that is a response of climate – society interactions [2]. In view of the outcome vulnerability, scholars consider the outcome of exposure to the stimuli, sensitivity and adaptive capacity [3, 4]. Others take vulnerability to climate change impacts as a degree to which one is susceptible to the negative impacts or the extent to which climate change damage or harm a system [5]. In line to this understanding, the author of this chapter contend that when adaptive capacity is low and when coping and adaptation strategies to climate change impacts are not working effectively due to gender inequality, among other factors, the phenomenon compromises livelihoods resources and community livelihoods, more generally.

squarely from methodological point of view to the outcomes. This information is critical because different gender groups have different adaptation and coping strategies and also different ability to adapt to climate change impacts, hence different vulnerability. For instance, while men consider migration as a strategy to reduce vulnerability, it is likely to increase vulnerability among women who have limited mobility particularly in rural communities [16].

Farmers' Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts in Semi-arid Environments in Tanzania: A Gender Perspective

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72108

57

The key concepts in this chapter are: gender vulnerability, climate change and livelihoods. A concept like climate change is seriously conceptualized in the literature as a long-term mean statistics of weather [4, 9]. This study takes climate change as any long-term change in rainfall and extreme weather events like drought and floods. In addition, livelihood is conceptualized in this chapter to include possession of human capabilities like education, skills and health; access to tangible and intangible assets and existence of economic activities [17, 18]. The concept is essentially about how different people in a community live, what resources do they depend and what activities do they undertake to sustain their living. Gender vulnerability, therefore, considers complex relations between men and women in a community and how these relations result into unequal vulnerability between men, women and children [14].

This chapter puts livelihoods at the center of the communities to understand how people live and what resources and activities do their livelihoods depend. It picks some elements of the CARE's model [7] named as CAREs' climate vulnerability and capacity analysis model. This helps to understand implications of climate change impacts on community livelihoods, and also helps to identify the most vulnerable social groups including dimensions of local adaptation, which involve anticipating, planning and acting to reduce vulnerability; and coping strategies, which involve the use of available skills, resources and opportunities to address, manage and overcome short-and medium-term vulnerability, though can, in the long-term increase vulnerability [7, 19]. The chapter adopts some elements of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) developed by DFID [20] in understanding how livelihoods assets and outcomes are affected by the vulnerability context like shocks, trends and seasonality of climatic and non-climatic hazards. The livelihoods assets include human, social, financial, natural and physical capital, which when negatively affected by vulnerability hazards translates into increasing community vulnerability by affecting food security, income, and natural resource base, hereunder also named livelihoods resources like land and water. The analysis of community vulnerability, with a gender lens, due to the long-term climate change impacts and other stressors in the context of SLA assist answering questions like "how community livelihoods, men and women, are affected by climatic and non-climatic hazards, which forms the vulnerability context of the livelihoods assets." The analysis also explores gender differential vulnerability by looking at types of coping strategies

and ability of men and women to cope or adapt to the climate change impacts.

The study was conducted in Iramba and Meatu districts. Iramba is found in Singida while Meatu is found in Simiyu Region. Both districts lie entirely in semi-arid environments, which

1.1. Analytical framework

2. Study areas

Literature demonstrates different models of disaster risks that are used to assess vulnerability including, among others, pressure and release and access model [6] and CARE International climate vulnerability and capacity analysis model. The CARE's model helps to understand implications of climate change for community livelihoods, including identification of the most vulnerable social groups that capture dimensions of local adaptation and coping strategies [7]. To that effect, this model is suitable for analyzing vulnerability with a gender perspective. The pressure and release model views vulnerability as a progression from root causes, to the processes or activities that transform the root causes into particular forms of insecurity and finally into unsafe conditions. Root causes include limited access to power, structures and resources. They also include limited access to political and economic systems. It appears that, although some models like the CARE's model put gender as an "add on" component; existing vulnerability to climate change models are gender blind.

It is worth noting that vulnerability assessment is vital for households and communities whose livelihoods depend on natural resources that are sensitive to climate change impacts. Since gender dimension is critical for development, vulnerability assessment with a gender lens is also critical because gender inequality is prominent in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and particularly in Tanzania relative to other regions in the world [8]. Literature shows that community livelihoods in semi-arid environments, like in Iramba and Meatu in Tanzania, are more at risk of being affected by climate change impacts because of high dependence on rain-fed crop production and livestock keeping, which are both sensitive to the phenomenon [9, 10].

Smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists in semi-arid environments in developing countries like Tanzania are characterized by poor living conditions manifested through low household income, food insecurity, inadequate health services, unstable energy supplies, and fragile natural ecosystem. This prevailing condition exacerbates farmers and agro-pastoralists' vulnerability to the climate change impacts [7, 11]. As such, there is a growing concern that women are more vulnerable to the impact relative to men counterparts because of unequal gender relations, which tend to downgrade women in the sphere of access to and control over resources that can assist coping and adaptation measures [1, 8, 11, 12]. Women exclusion in decision-making and planning for adaptation measures may exacerbate the problem [11, 13, 14].

This chapter acknowledges the fact that women are "agents of change" for designing gender sensitive adaptation policies to address climate change impacts, thus reducing gender vulnerability [15]. However, available studies on vulnerability to climate change impacts including Kelly and Adger [5], O'brien et al. [2] and Coletti et al. [3] do not address gender dimension squarely from methodological point of view to the outcomes. This information is critical because different gender groups have different adaptation and coping strategies and also different ability to adapt to climate change impacts, hence different vulnerability. For instance, while men consider migration as a strategy to reduce vulnerability, it is likely to increase vulnerability among women who have limited mobility particularly in rural communities [16].

#### 1.1. Analytical framework

change is viewed to include outcome vulnerability that connotes outcome of climate change impacts as adopted in this chapter. It is also taken as contextual vulnerability that is a response of climate – society interactions [2]. In view of the outcome vulnerability, scholars consider the outcome of exposure to the stimuli, sensitivity and adaptive capacity [3, 4]. Others take vulnerability to climate change impacts as a degree to which one is susceptible to the negative impacts or the extent to which climate change damage or harm a system [5]. In line to this understanding, the author of this chapter contend that when adaptive capacity is low and when coping and adaptation strategies to climate change impacts are not working effectively due to gender inequality, among other factors, the phenomenon compromises livelihoods resources and com-

Literature demonstrates different models of disaster risks that are used to assess vulnerability including, among others, pressure and release and access model [6] and CARE International climate vulnerability and capacity analysis model. The CARE's model helps to understand implications of climate change for community livelihoods, including identification of the most vulnerable social groups that capture dimensions of local adaptation and coping strategies [7]. To that effect, this model is suitable for analyzing vulnerability with a gender perspective. The pressure and release model views vulnerability as a progression from root causes, to the processes or activities that transform the root causes into particular forms of insecurity and finally into unsafe conditions. Root causes include limited access to power, structures and resources. They also include limited access to political and economic systems. It appears that, although some models like the CARE's model put gender as an "add on" component; existing

It is worth noting that vulnerability assessment is vital for households and communities whose livelihoods depend on natural resources that are sensitive to climate change impacts. Since gender dimension is critical for development, vulnerability assessment with a gender lens is also critical because gender inequality is prominent in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and particularly in Tanzania relative to other regions in the world [8]. Literature shows that community livelihoods in semi-arid environments, like in Iramba and Meatu in Tanzania, are more at risk of being affected by climate change impacts because of high dependence on rain-fed crop

production and livestock keeping, which are both sensitive to the phenomenon [9, 10].

ning for adaptation measures may exacerbate the problem [11, 13, 14].

Smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists in semi-arid environments in developing countries like Tanzania are characterized by poor living conditions manifested through low household income, food insecurity, inadequate health services, unstable energy supplies, and fragile natural ecosystem. This prevailing condition exacerbates farmers and agro-pastoralists' vulnerability to the climate change impacts [7, 11]. As such, there is a growing concern that women are more vulnerable to the impact relative to men counterparts because of unequal gender relations, which tend to downgrade women in the sphere of access to and control over resources that can assist coping and adaptation measures [1, 8, 11, 12]. Women exclusion in decision-making and plan-

This chapter acknowledges the fact that women are "agents of change" for designing gender sensitive adaptation policies to address climate change impacts, thus reducing gender vulnerability [15]. However, available studies on vulnerability to climate change impacts including Kelly and Adger [5], O'brien et al. [2] and Coletti et al. [3] do not address gender dimension

munity livelihoods, more generally.

56 Arid Environments and Sustainability

vulnerability to climate change models are gender blind.

The key concepts in this chapter are: gender vulnerability, climate change and livelihoods. A concept like climate change is seriously conceptualized in the literature as a long-term mean statistics of weather [4, 9]. This study takes climate change as any long-term change in rainfall and extreme weather events like drought and floods. In addition, livelihood is conceptualized in this chapter to include possession of human capabilities like education, skills and health; access to tangible and intangible assets and existence of economic activities [17, 18]. The concept is essentially about how different people in a community live, what resources do they depend and what activities do they undertake to sustain their living. Gender vulnerability, therefore, considers complex relations between men and women in a community and how these relations result into unequal vulnerability between men, women and children [14].

This chapter puts livelihoods at the center of the communities to understand how people live and what resources and activities do their livelihoods depend. It picks some elements of the CARE's model [7] named as CAREs' climate vulnerability and capacity analysis model. This helps to understand implications of climate change impacts on community livelihoods, and also helps to identify the most vulnerable social groups including dimensions of local adaptation, which involve anticipating, planning and acting to reduce vulnerability; and coping strategies, which involve the use of available skills, resources and opportunities to address, manage and overcome short-and medium-term vulnerability, though can, in the long-term increase vulnerability [7, 19].

The chapter adopts some elements of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) developed by DFID [20] in understanding how livelihoods assets and outcomes are affected by the vulnerability context like shocks, trends and seasonality of climatic and non-climatic hazards. The livelihoods assets include human, social, financial, natural and physical capital, which when negatively affected by vulnerability hazards translates into increasing community vulnerability by affecting food security, income, and natural resource base, hereunder also named livelihoods resources like land and water. The analysis of community vulnerability, with a gender lens, due to the long-term climate change impacts and other stressors in the context of SLA assist answering questions like "how community livelihoods, men and women, are affected by climatic and non-climatic hazards, which forms the vulnerability context of the livelihoods assets." The analysis also explores gender differential vulnerability by looking at types of coping strategies and ability of men and women to cope or adapt to the climate change impacts.

## 2. Study areas

The study was conducted in Iramba and Meatu districts. Iramba is found in Singida while Meatu is found in Simiyu Region. Both districts lie entirely in semi-arid environments, which are prone to droughts and other manifestations of climate change. The districts were selected for the study because poverty, defined as the inability to meet a minimum standard of living, is as high as 80% [1] suggesting that the districts were likely to be vulnerable to the climate change impacts [4, 7]. Being contiguous, the two districts were good for assessing differences in terms of manifestation of climate change and gender vulnerability to the phenomenon for the two communities: the Wasukuma in Meatu and the Wanyiramba in Iramba.

The mean annual rainfall in Meatu ranges between 400 mm and 900 mm in the southern and northern parts respectively [21]. In Iramba, the mean annual rainfall ranges between 500 mm and 850 mm and the surface temperature ranges between 15C in July and 30C in October [22]. The rainfall regime in both districts is unimodal, which starts in November and ends in April [23]. In Meatu, vegetation is mostly shrub and thorny trees scattered or clustered in some parts while Iramba's vegetation include Miombo woodlands, acacia woodlands and grasslands [24]. Three villages were involved in the study: Mwamanimba and Mwashata in Meatu and Kidaru in Iramba. The two villages in Meatu are dominated by the Sukuma while Kidaru in Iramba is dominated by the nyiramba. All villages in the study areas are dominated by the smallholder farmers. Mwamanimba is dominated more by agro-pastoralists whose livelihoods rely on rainfall. This means that any change in rainfall is likely to affect livelihoods. Since smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists are poor in the study areas [1], it was anticipated that they are likely to be vulnerable to climate change impacts.

things analyzed using this tool include time for leisure and traditional dances, planting and harvesting periods, periods of food and income insecurity, timing of hazards like droughts and floods and seasons for illnesses. Thirdly, vulnerability matrices were used to determine hazards, which have the most impacts on livelihoods resources. Livelihoods resources are defined, in this study, as those resources considered most important by smallholder farmers and agropastoralists in supporting livelihoods. Participants were asked to prioritize four important livelihoods resources. The matrices also helped to determine the most vulnerable livelihoods resources and to identify adaptation and coping strategies used, and whether the strategies to address the hazards had changed over time. Participants were also asked to decide on the degree of impact of each hazard against the livelihoods resources. The score for a significant impact was 3, for medium was 2, for low was 1 and zero was for no impact. During data analysis, information for each gender group was put together based on similarities and differ-

Number of women participants

Farmers' Vulnerability to Climate Change Impacts in Semi-arid Environments in Tanzania: A Gender Perspective

Kidaru 3 11 12 11 49 30 75 Mwashata 3 12 10 12 54 39 76 Mwamanimba 3 10 10 11 44 20 73 Total 9 33 32 34 —— —

Number of youth participants Mean age (years) Minimum age (years)

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72108

Maximum age (years) 59

Tables 2–4 present historical events of the hazards reported by men, women and youth during FGDs. The results show that drought, floods, strong winds, human and livestock pests and diseases, crop pests and diseases were hazards related to climate change that affected community livelihoods. Non-climatic hazards mentioned include low and fluctuation of price for agricultural produce and livestock, robbery of livestock, killings of people with albinism, and tribe wars between the Sukuma and the Taturu. These need to be addressed in order to achieve sustainable livelihoods in the communities. In order to justify these results, FGD participants

"…Drought…we have lost hope at this point…when it rains, it is so windy…already it has destroyed 15 to 30 houses between January and February this year…the building of the primary society has been destroyed by a strong wind…the cemetery has also been destroyed by floods causing reburying of some bodies…" (Women FGD participants, Mwashata, March

ences between gender groups.

Village name Number of

FGDs conducted Number of men participants

4. Results and discussion

reported the following:

2015).

4.1. Trends in hazards causing vulnerability

Table 1. Information on FGDs and participants involved.
