Community-based adaptation to climate variability and change: mapping and assessment of water resource management challenges in the North Pare highlands, Tanzania

Abstract

In contrast to the technocentric emphasis on new irrigation infrastructure that has been the hallmark of Tanzania’s climate change adaptation policy, this paper examines challenges for local management of existing ‘traditional’ small-scale water resources through community-engaged research that is grounded in the emerging methods of community-based adaptation. We examine the shifting local institutional arrangements during the colonial and postcolonial periods that have shaped the social dynamics of climate risk and water resources management in the North Pare highlands. Secondly, we examine contemporary water use and management and perceptions of change in the North Pare highlands, where smallholder farmers manage water resources to fulfill domestic and other requirements of an intensively cultivated landscape. Last, we draw on community mapping and assessment of small-scale water resources to identify options for future action at community level. Our findings highlight a set of embedded institutional concerns that confront communities evaluating future trajectories of climate change adaptation.