Department of Geography

Permanent URI for this collection

https://repository.udsm.ac.tz/handle/123456789/50

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 116

Activity Participation and Perceptions on Informal Public Transport and Bus Rapid Transit in Dar es Salaam
(SAGE, 2020-09-10) Joseph, Lucy; Neven, An; Marten, Karel; Kweka, Opportuna; Wets, Geert; Janssens, Davy
This paper seeks to understand participation in out-of-home activities by inhabitants in Dar es Salaam, and their perceptions toward informal public transport (IPT) and bus rapid transit (BRT) in supporting these activities. Without fixed schedules, IPT (e.g., minibuses, motorcycles, and tricycles) is used as a means of transport for different trips. However, IPT is burdened by poor roads, traffic congestion, and high transport demand. Many developing cities are seeking to replace IPT with formal BRT lines. However, little is known in relation to the ability of IPT and BRT to support out-of-home activity participation of the inhabitants. This paper reports on a study in Dar es Salaam exploring the relative contribution of each type of service. The study took place before the opening of BRT, and encompasses focus group discussions, participatory geographical information systems, and questionnaires carried out in two study zones: one close to a BRT corridor and the other in a peri-urban location. The findings show that IPT was used to support participation in daily activities like work, education, shopping, and social matters; and was perceived to be flexible in providing access to both high and low density unplanned settlements. The BRT was viewed to benefit specific groups of people, especially individuals working in permanent offices in and around the city center, particularly professional workers. This paper sheds light on how the two systems were perceived by the local people and can inform policy makers about possible improvements in public transport systems to support activity participation of their inhabitants
Aerial Imagery for Monitoring Land Use in East African Wetland Ecosystems
(IEEE, 2009) Franke, Jonas; Becker, M.; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Mwita, Emiliana J.; Nienkemper, Pamela
Anthropogenic pressure and environmental change processes are key drivers of the recent intensification in the agricultural use of East African wetlands. Land shortage and degradation of upland areas as well as climate change effects turn wetland ecosystems into focal points of production by commercial and traditional users, entailing rapid wetland use changes and, in some instances, severe wetland degradation. An ecosystem inventory by mapping land cover and monitoring land use changes with remote sensing improves our understanding of change processes in wetlands and will contribute to the provision of decision support for sustainable use of wetland ecosystems. However, the spatial resolution of satellite systems is often too coarse to derive land use information at the plot level. In particular, small wetlands often exhibit abrupt transitions into different types of land use and landscape elements. Hence, monitoring of small wetlands requires spatially high-resolution remote sensing data, accounting for the prevailing small-scale diversity in land use. High-resolution aerial imagery, which is not available for most parts of East Africa, may provide information of wetland use/change at the required plot-level scale. Therefore, image acquisition campaigns over Kenyan and Tanzanian wetlands were realized with a common Nikon D-200 in September 2008 and February 2009, respectively. A comprehensive geo-referenced image data set that displays land use units at the plot level was obtained, used to discriminate various land cover types. Land cover/-land use maps can be derived that reveal land use trends fundamental for providing decision support for a sustainable wetland use.
African Migration Workshop: Understanding Migration Dynamics in the Continent Title: Rethinking the African Refugees’ Movements and Caring Practices in the Post Structural Adjustment Program Era
(2007) Kweka, Opportuna L.
For the past four decades refugee movements have dominated the international migration arena in Africa. However, theorizing migration has mainly concentrated on international labor migration. The new transnational migration theory for example, assumes porous borders and assumes that all migrants are capable of accessing resources in the places to which they migrate. I argue, on the contrary, that in the era of structural adjustment programs in Africa, migrants such as refugees are associated with immobility instead of transnational movements. As a result of restriction on their mobility, these migrants have adopted different forms of survival strategies such as repatriation, returnees, and recyclers. Through a historical account and a case study of Burundian refugees in camps in western Tanzania, I provide narratives of the refugees both on the causes of their movements, and also on the changes and challenges in their participation in different forms of survival strategies. I argue that the dynamics in the causes of movements of the refugees in camps and the new patterns of movement challenge our understanding of the category “refugee” in Africa and call for new ways of theorizing and studying about as well as caring for the refugees. The paper provides both theoretical and methodological contributions to studies on refugees in Africa.
Agricultural Development in Tanzania 1961-82: Performance and Major Constraints.
(1985) Ndulu, B. J.; Msambichaka, Lucian A.
The new policy has not been a success. The share of agriculture in GDP fell from about 60% at the beginning of the 1960s to 36% 20 years later. The food self-sufficiency target has not been reached. However, as the population outgrows food production, resort has been made to food imports. Finally, the production of export crops has been very mixed, with negative trends for some of the most important crops. The agricultural sector continues to provide most of the employment in the country largely due to the failure of the non-agricultural sectors to develop sufficiently rapidly.
Analysis of Agricultural Change Using Field Allocation to Crops Technique. A Case of Uporoto Highlands, Southern Tanzania
(Journal of the Geographical Association of Tanzania, 2013) Sokoni, Cosmas H.
Every agricultural system is dynamic as it functions within changing demographic, socio-economic and physical environments. The understanding of agricultural change is important because of its strong relationship to socio-economic, environmental and political systems. This paper discusses the field allocation to crops technique for analysis of changes in crop composition in farming systems. The technique is suitable at local scale and in environments where farmers have multiplicity of fields in different locations in order to benefit from micro climates variations. The paper discusses the relevance of studying changes in crop composition for understanding agricultural change and the technique’s strengths and weaknesses. The technique is demonstrated using data from a farming systems survey in the Uporoto Highlands, Mbeya region, Tanzania. Through capturing gain and loss of fields by crops, the technique unveils changes in the relative importance of crops over time. The technique is relevant for understanding agricultural change with respect to crop composition, and for identification of patterns of changes for better informed decision making.
Analyzing the Relationship Between Objective–Subjective Health Status and Public Perception of Climate Change as AaHuman Health Risk in Coastal Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis, 2015-01) Armah, Frederick A.; Luginaah, Isaac; Genesis, Yengoh; Hambati, Herbert; Chuenpagdee, Ratana; Campbell, Gwyn
Climate change is considered as the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century. Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the most-at-risk region of the world, is estimated to have a disproportionately large share of the burden of climate change-induced environmental and human health risks. To develop effective adaptations to protect public health, it is essential to consider how individuals perceive and understand the risks, and how they might be willing to change their behaviors in response to them. Using a cross-sectional survey of 1253 individuals in coastal Tanzania we analyzed the relationship between subjective health status (self-reported health) and objective health status on the one hand and perceived health risks of climate change. Generally, higher subjective health status was associated with lower scores on perceived health risks of climate change. Concerning objective health status, the results were varied. Individuals who affirmed that they had been previously diagnosed with hepatitis, skin conditions, or tuberculosis had lower scores on perceived health risks of climate change, unlike their counterparts who affirmed that they had been previously diagnosed with malaria in the past 12 months or had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. These relationships persist even when biosocial and sociocultural attributes are taken into consideration. The results underscore the complex ways in which objective and subjective health interact with both biosocial and sociocultural factors to shape perceived health risks of climate change. Do you want to read the rest of this publication?Access full-text
Assessing Barriers to Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Tanzania: Does Where You Live Matter?
(Springer, 2015-02) Armah, Frederick A.; Luginaah, Isaac; Hambati, Herbert; Chuenpagdee, Ratana; Campbell, Gwyn
Research on barriers to climate change adaptation has, hitherto, disproportionately focused on institutional barriers. Despite the critical importance of personal barriers in shaping the adaptive response of humanity to climate change and variability, the literature on the subject is rather nascent. This study is premised on the hypothesis that place-specific characteristics (where you live) and compositional (both biosocial and sociocultural) factors may be salient to differentials in adaptation to climate change in coastal areas of developing countries. This is because adaptation to climate change is inherently local. Using cross-sectional survey data on 1,253 individuals (606 males and 647 females), barriers to adaptation to climate change were observed to vary with place, indicating that there is inequality in barriers to adaptation. In the multivariate models, the place-specific differences in barriers to adaptation were robust and remained statistically significant even when socio-demographic (compositional) variables were controlled. Observed differences in barriers to adaptation to climate change in coastal Tanzania mainly reflect strong place-specific disparities among groups indicating the need for adaptation policies that are responsive to processes of socio-institutional learning in a specific context, involving multiple people that have a stake in the present and the future of that place. These people are making complex, multifaceted choices about managing and adapting to climate-related risks and opportunities, often in the face of resource constraints and competing agendas.
Assessing the Challenge of Settlement in Budalangi and Yala Swamp Area in Western Kenya Using Landsat Satellite Imagery
(2011) Onywere, Simon M.; Getenga, Zachary M.; Mwakalila, Shadrack S.; Twesigye, Charles K.; Nakiranda, Josephine K.
The Budalangi area of Kenya exhibits high levels of rural poverty despite its natural resources potential and favourable climate. The area was mapped using multi-temporal remote sensing image data from 1973 to 2009 and participatory data collection. Floods are a recurrent environmental hazard and impede access to environmental resources and agricultural production. The physical setting of Budalangi at the floodplain of Nzoia River and increased runoff from degraded catchments are contributory factors to the flooding. Floods lead to disruption of human settlements and destruction of crops, shelter, dykes and infrastructural facilities. Disease outbreaks also increase due to destruction of sanitation facilities and relocation of settlements in makeshift camps. This implies that the policy measures that have been instituted by the government to mitigate the problem have had dismal impact in the Budalangi and Yala Swamp area. The degradation of the catchment is reflected in its sediment loading and deposition into Lake Victoria which has seen the morphology of the coastline at the mouth of Nzoia River and the aerial coverage by water in the lake change over the years. The overall loss in the area under Yala Swamp is 54 Km from 186 Km in 1973 to 132 Km in 2009. The encroachment has significant implication on the wellbeing of the Yala Swamp and the Nzoia Floodplain ecosystem. The study therefore underscores the need to evolve an integrated watershed management plan for effective management of Budalangi and Yala Swamp area and the region in general.
Assessing the Hydrological Conditions of the Usangu Wetlands in Tanzania
(Scientific Research, 2011-03) Mwakalila, Shadrack
Although wetlands make up less than 10% of Tanzania, their “critical, life support, ecosystem services” sustain over 95% of lives, of wildlife and of livestock. They provide security as sources of food, water, energy, economy and livelihoods, therefore, the aim of this paper is to address the current hydrologic conditions of Usangu wetlands. Several approaches were used in the collection of data for analysis. Both primary and secondary data was collected and analysed. The key finding shows that, the overall area of the Usangu Wetlands is divided into two main portions, the Eastern Wetland and the Western Wetland, the core wetland, the Ihefu Swamp varies between 30 and 65 km2 , whereas the seasonally wetted areas varies between 260 and 1800 km2 . Major perennial rivers which feed the Ihefu swamp in Usangu wetlands include Kimani, Mbalali, Ndembera and the Great Ruaha River. The contribution from Mbalali River ranges between 69.17% and 47.78%; from Ndembera River ranges between 25% and 13.83%; from Kimani River ranges between 25% and 8.33% and from Great Ruaha River contribution ranges 24.0% and 2.96%. The irrigated agriculture is most important as a user of water and impacts most heavily on wetlands. Abstraction of water for agriculture is leading to dried up rivers, falling ground water tables, salinated soil and polluted waterways.
Between dependence and deprivation: The interlocking nature of land alienation in Tanzania
(Wiley Online Library, 2018-02-16) Bluwstein, Jevgeniy; Lund, Jens Friis; Askew, Kelly; Stein, Howard; Noe, Christine; Odgaard, Rie; Maganga, Faustin; Engström, Linda
Studies of accumulation by dispossession in the Global South tend to focus on individual sectors, for example, large‐scale agriculture or nature conservation. Yet smallholder farmers and pastoralists are affected by multiple processes of land alienation. Drawing on the case of Tanzania, we illustrate the analytical purchase of a comprehensive examination of dynamics of land alienation across multiple sectors. To begin with, processes of land alienation through investments in agriculture, mining, conservation, and tourism dovetail with a growing social differentiation and class formation. These dynamics generate unequal patterns of land deprivation and accumulation that evolve in a context of continued land dependency for the vast majority of the rural population. Consequently, land alienation engenders responses by individuals and communities seeking to maintain control over their means of production. These responses include migration, land tenure formalization, and land transactions, that propagate across multiple localities and scales, interlocking with and further reinforcing the effects of land alienation. Various localized processes of primitive accumulation contribute to a scramble for land in the aggregate, providing justifications for policies that further drive land alienation.
Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Alleviation in Namtumbo District, Tanzania
(Elsevier, 2012) Kangalawe, Richard Y. M.; Noe, Christine
The emergence of community-based conservation across the world has been associated with ecological, political and socio-economic benefits. However, lack of active involvement in planning and limited access to conservation areas makes the economic prospects of initiatives like the Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) rather questionable. This study was undertaken in the Mbarang’andu WMA in Namtumbo District, Tanzania to assess the contribution of community-based conservation approaches such as WMAs in enhancing conservation of wildlife resources and poverty alleviation around protected areas. The study methods used included participatory rural appraisal, key informant interviews, direct field observations and household survey. A sample of 10% of the village households was selected for interview. LandSat images from 1995 were used in mapping the physical resource base and land use/cover types of the district. Household data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Findings from the study indicate that much of the village land has been allocated for biodiversity conservation in form of forests and/or WMAs. However, there is little evidence to show the results of such interventions in terms of poverty alleviation, which constrains other local livelihoods while benefiting distant resource users such as private investors. The article argues that to enhance local involvement in conservation of biodiversity while addressing poverty issues, mechanisms for accessing wildlife and forest resources would need to be reconsidered. In particular, this study establishes that the hunting quotas to the villages surrounding the WMA need to be increased to enhance community access to animal protein.
Bioregional Planning in Southeastern Tanzania: The Selous-Niassa Corridor as a Prism for Transfrontier Conservation Areas
(2009) Noe, Christine
Can Environmental Tax Reduce Dilapidated Motor Vehicles Importation and Pollution? Insights from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
(Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Dar es Salaam, 2022-06-29) Lema, A. Godwin
The influence of tax regime in reducing dilapidated vehicles’ demand and attendant pollution is puzzling global south cities. This article provides an assessment on how environmental tax is or is not curbing down the importation of the Dilapidated Motor Vehicles (DMVs) with a view to reduce vehicular emissions in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A multilevel perspective employing mixed methods of data collection was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data through document review, group discussions, in-depth interviews from selected Members of Parliament, policymakers, government officials, and brand new as well as DMVs dealers. Content, trend and discourse analysis enabled to interpret qualitative data. Findings reveal that taxing importation of DMVs is not significantly reducing air pollution. The side effects of the increased DMVs import in polluting the environment are increasing due to the rise in income levels, population increase and technical challenges of estimating marginal social cost. As DMVs tax was not reflected in the exporter’s cost schedule, the non-inclusion gives a market failure scenario a la Pigou Theorem. Rethinking of an optimal environmental tax remains a complex sociopolitical issue calling for research and policy attention.
Celebrity and The Environment: Fame, Wealth and Power in Conservation
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2011-11-03) Noe, Christine
Celebrity and the Environment is among the first major works that give a critical analysis of political ecology of the celebrity industry. Drawing on a thorough media research and extensive readings, the book takes a critical stance on the role of fame industry in shaping global environmental politics. The main issue of this book is not only the identification of how fame, wealth and power works to influence environmental movement but also what celebrity conservationism might signify. On this, Brockington argues that celebrity is an art, and the rules for its production can be taught. Meanwhile, biological nature that celebrity seeks to conserve is a social construct. Humans are central to both nature construction and they are also part of it, a point reinforced through the exclusion of humans from nature by other humans in the process of producing images of nature congenial to human consumption. The book therefore answers important questions of how and why celebrity is brought into conservation to pursue certain agendas. These questions are pertinent because conservation agendas are not given but are instead created by people on behalf of nature. So, in whose image and interest are conservation agendas pursued? Who wins, who loses from celebrity’s support for conservation causes? In answering these questions, the book provides counter-narratives to common explanations of environmental causes such as the noble goal of saving the planet from global warming and loss of biodiversity. In this way, Brockington aligns his work with critical scholarship that seeks to provide nuanced perspectives on the relationship between nature and society under capitalism
Challenges in Groundwater Resource Management in Coastal Aquifers of East Africa: Investigations and Lessons Learnt in the Comoros Islands, Kenya and Tanzania
(Elsevier, 2016) Cassidy, Rachel; Obando, Joy; Robins, Nicholas; Ibrahim, Kassim; Melchioly, Simon; Mjemah, Ibrahimu; Shauri, Halimu; Bourhane, Anli; Mohamed, Ibrahim; Noe, Christine; Mwega, Beatrice; Makokha, Mary; Join, Jean-Lambert; Banton, Olivier; Davies, Jeffrey; Comte, Jean-Christophe
Study region Coastal areas of Kenya (Kilifi County), Tanzania (Kilwa district) and Comoros (Ngazidja island), East Africa. Study focus Research aimed to understand the physical and societal drivers of groundwater accessibility and identify critical aspects of groundwater access and knowledge gaps that require further monitoring and research. Interdisciplinary societal, environmental and hydrogeological investigations were consistently undertaken in the three areas considered as exemplars of the diversity of the coastal fringes of the wider region. This paper focuses on the hydrogeological outcomes of the research, framed within the principal socio-environmental issues identified. New hydrological insights Results confirm the fundamental importance of coastal groundwater resources for the development of the region and the urgent need to match groundwater development with demographic and economic growth. Hydrogeological knowledge is fragmented, groundwater lacks a long-term monitoring infrastructure and information transfer from stakeholders to users is limited. Current trends in demography, climate, sea-level and land-use are further threatening freshwater availability. Despite possessing high-productivity aquifers, water quality from wells and boreholes is generally impacted by saltwater intrusion. Shallow large-diameter wells, following the traditional model of these areas, consistently prove to be less saline and more durable than deeper small-diameter boreholes. However, promoting the use of large numbers of shallow wells poses a significant challenge for governance, requiring coherent management of the resource at local and national scales and the engagement of local communities.
Charcoal Potential of Miombo Woodlands at Kitulangalo, Tanzania
(2005) Malimbwi, R. E.; Zahabu, Eliakimu; Monela, G. C.; Misana, Salome B.; Jambiya, George C.; Mchome, B.
A study was carried out to determine the charcoal potential of the miombo woodlands of Kitulangalo area, near Morogoro, Tanzania. Systematic sampling design used in an inventory in 1996 was repeated in 1999 in order to determine the general current stand parameters and forest change. A total of 46 sample plots were laid out in the forest reserve. In adjacent public lands stratified random sampling was applied where a total of 30 plots were laid out. The layout was meant to study how species richness and wood stocking vary in public lands and forest reserve. Preferred tree species for charcoal making had standing wood volume of 24.5 m3ha-1 and 56.5 m3ha -1 in public lands and reserved forest respectively with corresponding basal area of 3.7 m2ha-1 and 7.2 m 2ha-1. Stem numbers were 909 stems ha-1 in public lands and 354 stems ha-1 in the reserved forest. These values indicated more regeneration in public lands following disturbance than in the forest reserve. The weight of charcoal that can be extracted from the woodland at the roadside was 56 kg, equivalent to only one bag of charcoal per hectare. Similarly 54 bags may be extracted at 5 km distance while 125 bags may be extracted from beyond 10 km from the highway. With the established stand growth rate of 2.3 m3 ha-1 year-1 for the regrowth of miombo woodland at Kitulangalo, it will take about 8 to 15 years for the degraded woodlands to recover for charcoal production. Therefore, for sustainable charcoal production in this area, felling cycles of 8 to 15 years are recommended, provided the minimum tree size of > 10 cm dbh (diameter at breast height) for charcoal making is observed.
Classification, Characterisation, and Use of Small Wetlands in East Africa
(Springer Link, 2011) Sakana, Naomi; Alvarez, Miguel; Becker, M.; Boehme, Beate; Handa, Collins; Kamiri, Wangechi; Langensiepen, Matthias; Menz, Gunter; Misana, Salome B.; Mogha, Neema G.; Möseler, Bodo M.; Mwita, Emiliana J.; Oyieke, Helida; Van Wijk, Mark
Small wetlands in Kenya and Tanzania cover about 12 million ha and are increasingly converted for agricultural production. There is a need to provide guide-lines for their future protection or use, requiring their systematic classification and characterisation. Fifty-one wetlands were inventoried in 2008 in four contrasting sites, covering a surveyed total area of 484 km 2 . Each wetland was subdivided into sub-units of 0.5–458 ha based on the predominant land use. The biophysical and socio-economic attributes of the resulting 157 wetland sub-units were determined. The wetland sub-units were categorized using multivariate analyses into five major cluster groups. The main wetland categories comprised: (1) narrow permanent-ly flooded inland valleys that are largely unused; (2) wide permanently flooded inland valleys and highlands flood-plains under extensive use; (3) large inland valleys and lowland floodplains with seasonal flooding under medium use intensity; (4) completely drained wide inland valleys and highlands floodplains under intensive food crop production; and (5) narrow drained inland valleys under permanent horticultural production. The wetland types were associated with specific vegetation forms and soil attributes.
Climate Change and Access to Water Resources in the Lake Victoria Basin
(2010) Mwiturubani, Donald A.
Th e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has, as indicated elsewhere in this publication, concluded that climate change and variability have the potential to impact negatively on water availability, and access to and demand for water in most countries, but particularly in Africa.1 Climate change is expected to alter and hence bring changes to the hydrological cycle, temperature balance and rainfall pattern. Th is has wide-ranging implications since water is one of the most important of all natural resources for socioeconomic, cultural, political and environmental development. It is a commonly used resource and hence a fundamental economic asset for sustainable development. Water is required in an adequate and sustainable supply for domestic, farming (livestock and agriculture) and industrial use, and other environmental functions on all spatial and temporal scales. It is estimated that globally 70 per cent of water withdrawn is used for irrigated agriculture, 20 per cent for industry and the remaining 10 per cent for other uses including domestic use
Climate Change and Informal Institutions in the Lake Victoria Basin
(2009) Mwiturubani, Donald A.
Th e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analyses of impacts of climate change suggests that in sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of the population depend on rain-fed agriculture, economic activities are likely to be more vulnerable to climate change. Th is is so because the coping mechanisms of the indigenous communities in the rural areas are limited due to lack of appropriate technology. A survey of households and in-depth interviews with key informants in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB), however, illustrate that local people in the LVB, through their informal institutions, have been developing diff erent strategies to deal with the impacts of climate change. Th ese fi ndings also suggest that the strategies developed are in most instances adaptive to the changing ecological conditions and are eff ective and useful in responding to natural resource constraints as caused by climate change. Th e strategies employed include: creating and implementing specifi c rules on access to and utilisation of some specifi c natural resources, such as those in the water catchment areas; creating and implementing rules on the type of crops to be grown (mainly cassava and sweet potatoes); creating and implementing restrictions
Climate Change and Natural Resources Conflicts in Africa
(2014) Mwiturubani, Donald A.; Van Wyk, Jo-Ansie
Th is monograph contains papers that were presented at the International Conference on Climate Change and Natural Resources Confl icts in Africa, 14–15 May 2009, Entebbe, Uganda, organised by the Environment Security Programme (ESP) of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Nairobi Offi ce. Th e climate change phenomenon is a global concern, which typically threatens the sustainability of the livelihoods of the majority of the population living in the developing countries. Africa, particularly the sub-Saharan region, is likely to be negatively impacted by climate variability and change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Africa’s vulnerability arises from a combination of many factors, including extreme poverty, a high rate of population increase, frequent natural disasters such as droughts and fl oods, and agricultural systems (both crop and livestock production) that depend heavily on rainfall. Extreme natural occurrences such as fl oods and droughts are becoming increasingly frequent and severe. Africa’s high vulnerability to the negative impacts of climate variability and change is also attributed to its low adaptive capacity.

Browse

Browsing Department of Geography by Title

Results Per Page

Sort Options