Climate Change Implications to High and Low Potential Zones of Tanzania

This chapter presents the findings from a literature review distinguishing the levels of vulnerability and resilience between the people who live in high potential zone areas and low potential zone areas. High potential zones are natural-resourced areas, while low potential zones are less-resourced areas. The refereed resources include fertile soil, water sources, vegetation, and landscape just to mention a few. Predictions from global circulation models confirm that global warming will have substantial impacts to biodiversity and agricultural systems in the most developing countries, including Tanzania. These impacts are severe, significant, and more pronounced in low potential zones where the poor people always dwell. High potential zones are less vulnerable to these impacts due to resources endowments. These impacts are mainly exacerbated by anthropogenic activities like overgrazing, burning of the ecosystem, and monoculture to mention a few. The increase in stress to the already affected areas increases the vulnerability of the poor and thus squeezing the threshold of livelihood options. This chapter focuses on climate change and biodiversity (i.e., soil, landscape, and vegetation) and agricultural biodiversity for climate change adaptations. Therefore, coping and adaptation strategies, particularly economic and technological adaptations, are relented as they significantly reduce the vulnerability of the livelihoods.