Peri-urban livelihood and adaptive capacity: the case of Dar es Salaam

The vulnerability to climate change of peri-urban areas is a key issue for scholars engaged in the search for effective strategies and measures to enhance urban adaptive capacity in Least Developed Countries. Peri-urban areas in those countries contain mainly informal settlements and are home to a substantial and growing proportion of the world’s urban population. Peri-urban livelihoods depend partly on natural resources such as land, water and space for living (Brook and Davila, 2000). This is also what makes them vulnerable to environmental changes and thus a priority area for improvements in adaptation. It is widely argued that improved urban planning and provision of public services and infrastructure are crucial for both development and the promotion of resilient cities (Stern, 2007). There is a broad consensus that betterment of housing conditions and provision of modern infrastructures are the best ways to reduce environmental risk and vulnerability to climate change in unplanned settlements (UN Habitat, 2003). Based on findings from fieldwork carried out in Dar es Salaam, the paper discusses the livelihood strategies, autonomous adaptation and environmental management practices in peri-urban areas, as they are crucial factors in adaptive capacity at the local level. After presenting a series of concepts and definitions related to peri-urban areas and environmental changes, the paper discusses the results of the field study conducted in three different wards in northern Dar es Salaam. The study illustrates how environmental changes can impact the livelihood of people living in peri-urban areas, and how autonomous adaptation practices seek to avoid or mitigate, environmental threats. Here “autonomous” refers to actions that can be undertaken without the intervention of institutions. The analysis of the empirical data collected in Dar es Salaam shows that rural-urban interactions are crucial for livelihood maintenance in a changing environment, due to their economic, social and environmental relevance. Furthermore households have developed multiple adaptation strategies and environmental management practices to cope with environmental threats, but these activities are still neglected in vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning . As a result, a need arises for better understanding of the autonomous practices taking place in peri-urban areas and of strategies for integrating those practices in adaptation planning at the local level. Adaptive capacity in peri-urban areas is strictly linked with rural-urban relations and livelihoods: land for farming and other activities, the possibility of reusing waste materials, variety of sources of water supply, etc. To pay no attention to those dynamics (and opportunities) could damage people’s livelihoods and compromise their assets. For this reason an improved understanding on how and to what extent urbanization effects peri-urban environments and people’s practices is crucial in designing effective local adaptation plans and improving local adaptation capacity.