Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Tanzania’s Planning Processes

The project “Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Tanzania’s Planning Processes” was launched in August 2021 with the main objective to strengthen Tanzania’s adaptive and resilience capacities by facilitating the integration of climate change adaptation planning processes. This objective will be achieved through the following three outcomes: strengthening adaptation planning governance and institutional coordination, improving evidence base for designing adaptation solutions, and developing a national adaptation plan (NAP).

Rising temperatures, longer dry spells, more intense rainfall and sea level rise make Tanzania the 26th most vulnerable country to climate risks. More than 70% of the natural disasters in Tanzania are climate change related and are linked to recurrent droughts and floods (NDC 2021). Several climate change vulnerability studies have been undertaken in the country, however, they covered only few parts of the territory. A stocktaking exercise undertaken in 2018 has identified the following gaps and barriers to the adaptation planning process: (1) a lack of an effective national institutional framework for integrating climate risks and adaptation measures into planning, (2) a lack of information on climate risks and vulnerabilities, (3) a lack of capacity at different levels, and (4) absence of clear linkages between NAP and NDCs. In an effort to deal with climate change, the Government has initiated several foundational policies and initiatives to address climate impacts and support the development of a NAP process. These include a National Climate Change Strategy (2012), the Zanzibar Climate Change Strategy (2014), Climate Change Adaptation Plans for Water (2012) and Agriculture (2014). However, despite these policies and initiatives, climate change adaptation planning and implementation are still in the early stages of development.

This project addresses the identified gaps and barriers and aims to overcome the overall problem of inadequate integration of climate risks and adaptation measures in Tanzania’s national and sectorial development plans. Outcomes 1 and 2 address the barriers related to limited coordination, lack of information, limited capacity and lack of a financing strategy. Outcome 3, designed to overcome the barriers related to lack of financing strategy, weak linkages in policymaking and lack of capacity and coordination, will be dependent on the results of both outcomes 1 and 2.  Through key activities grouped around the three outcomes, the project aims to deliver the following results:

• build capacities and empower the coordination mechanism to internalize the process within the country’s development planning and budgeting cycles;
• embed climate change and specifically adaptation as part of the national M&E system;
• develop tools and methodologies for current and future climate risks assessments;
• establish a national financing mechanism for climate change and widen resource mobilization scope through encouraging public private partnerships and involving other domestic, regional and international partners, CSOs, and financial institutions.

Project updates

In its updated NDC (2021), Tanzania has committed to promote effective adaptation measures, including in the priority areas such as access to clean water, sustainable livelihoods and climate-smart rural electrification. The NAP project Inception meeting and the first Project Steering Committee meeting to validate the annual work plan took place in September 2022. Considering the importance of the NDC implementation and the NAP alignment for the country, key stakeholders are aiming to collaborate closely on fast-track implementation of the NAP project.