Urban Poverty & Climate Change in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:

climatic events (e.g., the droughts of 2006 and 2008/2009, and the floods of 2009/2010)
severely impacted sectors such as transport, energy and health, with adverse socioeconomic
implications.
Projected changes in climate will have significant impacts on Tanzania’s rain-fed
agriculture and food production (Matari et al., 2008; Mwandosya et al., 1999), and could
thus impact on urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, a means of livelihood and subsistence
for the city’s poor. Warming will shorten the growing season and, together with reduced
rainfall, reduce water availability (Paavola, 2003).
Coastal degradation and salt-water intrusion are major problems for Dar es Salaam’s
coastal areas today, and under projected climate change and possible sea level rise,
coastal ecosystems would be highly threatened (Watkiss et al., 2011), affecting the
livelihoods and ecosystems services of coastal communities. Residents of coastal
wetlands that have incurred saltwater intrusion (such as Suna, Mtoni Azimio, Msasani
Bonde la Mpunga) informed the study team that they frequently need to repair their
houses as salt-water intrusion is corroding the foundations and cement bricks are being
eaten away.
In all, climate change will exacerbate problems experienced by Dar es Salaam’s urban
poor in areas such as health, living conditions, livelihoods and economic security. Urban
development and poverty reduction policies and programs for the city need to be adjusted
to not only better integrate disaster risk management approaches but to take a long-term
perspective that takes climate change into account. At the same time, existing policies
and regulations that can reduce the vulnerability of the poor need to be better enforced.
3 Dimensions of Urban Poverty in Dar es Salaam
3.1 Overview: Population, poverty and settlement patterns
Size and growth
Dar es Salaam has a population of about 5 million (see Figure 18) that could reach up to 8
million by 2020 if present trends continue (Casmiri, 2009; DSM City Council, 2010). The
city’s population has been growing at the rapid rate of about 8 percent per annum (World
Bank, 2002), a result of high in-migration from other areas and a birth rate of about 4.5
percent per annum. With population densities reaching 1,500 persons/hectare (on
average, approximately 150 persons/hectare), it has a population about seven times the
size of the next most populated city, Mwanza, and continues to attract the most migrants.
Incoming people move to Dar es Salaam in search of income-generating opportunities,
education, and other subsidized or free public goods and services. Increasing levels of
poverty, population growth and the lack of a sustainable housing policy, however, mean
that much of this urban growth is often absorbed into informal settlements.
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