Impacts of Climate Variability on Livelihoods of Pastoral Communities

Climate variability and change pose a significant threat to the livelihoods of more than three quarter of Tanzanian population including pastoralism. Compared to many other livelihoods activities, negative impacts of climate variability and change is mostly felt by pastoral households because at least 50 percent of household gross revenue including income and consumption come from livestock or livestock -related activities. This book looks on the people's perception and effects of climate variability on people's livelihoods. It looks among other things local knowledge experience and interaction with local environment which help to explain the pattern of climate variability and other stress factors experienced in their areas. Thus local people observations on climate variability should be considered and integrated with scientific knowledge towards forming climate variability adaptation strategies and policies.