Impact Of Climate Variability And Change On Livelihood Of The Barbaig Community In Hanang District, Manyara Region, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the impact of climate variability and change on livelihood of the

Barbaig community in Hanang District, Manyara region, Tanzania. Three research

objectives guided the study. Firstly, to examine the Barbaig pastoral community

knowledge and experience on climate variability and change. Secondly, to establish

the effects of climate variability and change on the livelihood of pastoral

community in the study area. Thirdly, to identify strategies used to adopt and

mitigate climate variability and change effects for the pastoral communities.

One hundred and ten (110) respondents were subjected to semi-structured

interviews. In addition, field observation, focus group discussion and documentary

review were used to collect all the required data. Data were analyzed using

Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 and the use of description

was employed.

Results indicated that 76% and 72% of the respondents interviewed from

Gisambalang and Dirma respectively were aware of the climate change and

variability. More than a half of them agreed on experiencing prolonged drought

(94% and 92% of respondents from Gisambalang and Dirma respectively followed

by High temperature; 78-90% of Gisambalang and Dirma pastoralists and heavy

rainfall which account for 63% of respondents from Gisambalang and 56% from

Dirma. The major source of information of Barbaig community on climate

variability and change is Parents which accounts for 83% of the respondents. Village

elders (69%) and news papers and magazines (41%) were also mentioned as the

second and the third sources of information on climate variability and change

respectively. also Local Government leaders (24%) and extension officers 21% were