Adaptive Capacity as a Strategic Element for Reducing Vulnerability to Environmental Changes

This chapter focuses on the role of the autonomous practices for environmental management and adaptation to environmental transformation adopted by people settled in peri-urban areas. This is considered the point of departure for the formulation and implementation of local adaptation measures and action plans in the urban domain. In particular, the chapter identifies the key factors in assessing peri-urban adaptive capacity, and presents the results of the investigation carried out in Dar es Salaam. Modalities of access to and management of resources, perception and observation of environmental transformation, and current or prospective autonomous strategies for confronting it are then discussed. Finally, the relationship between household characteristics and adaptation strategies is outlined in order to identify the specific interdependencies, delicate equilibria, limits, and opportunities that derive from those interdependencies, and to understand how they may influence measures undertaken by institutions to adapt to environmental transformation.