Madaka Tumbo

Adaptation of Wetlands Based Livelihoods to Climate Variability: Community Vulnerability and Adaptation to the Impacts of Climate Variability and Extremes on Simiyu Wetlands, Tanzania Madaka Tumbo

This study aimed at assessing community vulnerability and adaptation to the impact of climate variability and extremes on wetlands and its implication for livelihoods in Simiyu catchment, Southwest of Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Rainfall anomalies were used to characterize wet and dry seasons. Questionnaire surveys and focus group discussions were used to establish the impacts and coping strategies used during extreme events of floods and droughts. The results showed high rainfall fluctuations between seasons and from one year to the other. They further indicated that normally the October November December (OND) and MarchApril May (MAM ) seasons do not have the same strength and sign of anomalies, that is there are seasonal variation within the same year. Communities living around the Simiyu wetlands are vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations as their socio-economic activities are highly dependent on rainfall since 87%of respondents practice rainfed agriculture. Incidences of climate variations are increasing and have implications for wetland based lovelihoods