Water Dynamics in the Umba River Sub-Catchment of Tanzania: Water Resource Allocation for Livelihoods
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WATER DYNAMICS IN THE UMBA RIVER SUB-CATCHMENT OF TANZANIA: WATER RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR LIVELIHOODS SIXBERT SIMON MWANGA Student Number: 1436874 A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Supervisors: Professor Christopher Curtis & Dr. Melanie Samson September 2019 1 DECLARATION I declare that I composed exclusively this thesis and that it is not submitted for any other degree or professional qualification at any other learning institution. It is being presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. (Candidate’s Signature) 19th day of September, 2019 i ABSTRACT This study seeks to answer the question: how do changes in biophysical environment and social dynamics that include institutions affects water resource availability and allocation for livelihoods in the Umba River sub-catchment? I combined qualitative and quantitative methods within a single investigation whereby: quantitative methods traced and assessed land use and cover changes from 1975-2015 as well as tracing rainfall trends and extremes events since the 1960s across the study villages to understand how these changes affect water resource availability and livelihoods. Qualitative methods were used to gather information on livelihood capital, histories and how policies have been changing, especially the villagisation programme, as well as communities’ perceptions on water scarcity and how they react and adjust to those changes. I argue that mixed methods increase opportunities for data triangulation and corroboration of results to understand contemporary water related challenges in the global south. The conceptual framework combined the concepts of resilience, hydrosocial territories and waterscapes to demonstrate how human-environmental interactions and related changes that include power relations are linked to water access and allocation challenges and how these shape livelihood pathways in the Umba area. This approach revealed how changes in both biophysical environment (including land use and climate) and social dynamics that include institutions together have affected water resources availability, access and allocation and that in turn have affected water dependent livelihoods and related trajectories in the Umba area. Hydrosocial and waterscapes lenses revealed that available legal institutions have challenges and are influenced by politics and interference from government officers with interest in water and that the situation has caused some water infrastructures and water access to be allocated for some groups and places while denying other groups within the same sub-catchment. This has led to contestations and conflicts among water users themselves and institutions. I argue that the availability of water resources for livelihoods is complex and uncertain due to changes in biophysical environment, social dimensions, institutions and power relations which are interlinked and cannot be understood using a single based discipline and approach. Results demonstrate that the study area has experienced significant changes in land use and climate over the last 40 years. Settlement and scattered cultivation have increased by 1761% and 395% respectively. Linked to that, natural forests have decreased by 48%, bushland decreased by 28% and grassland by 55%. Trends in annual mean rainfall appear to be declining but the Mann-Kendall test ii did not detect any statistically significant trend (P > 0.05). However, extreme events assessed using the SPI for 55 and 33 years at two weather station locations indicated that the Umba area is experiencing increasing droughts events compared to wet events and the trend test has proved to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). Also, the seasonal analysis indicates interannual and interseasonal rainfall variabilities in terms of amount, onset, cessation and length of the season. Water access for livelihood is shaped by how it is allocated. Due to skewed power relationships within formal institutions, water is allocated in such a way that some groups within the catchment have water access while others not. Also, in the sub-catchment some locations such as midstream and downstream have water infrastructures while those in off-stream and upstream areas have limited infrastructure rights. This has led to contestation and conflicts. In the Umba area, there are six types of water related conflicts which include; farmers versus pastoralists; farmers versus formal institutions; community versus conservationists; upstream versus downstream; irrigators versus other water users; and farmer (s) versus farmers. Therefore, rather than simply being the effect of changes in land use and climate, changes in water availability in the sub-catchment are due to a combination of variations in rainfall, changes in land use and land cover, and the politics and practice of allocation of water via complex hydrosocial waterscapes. Over time, this combination of forces has affected availability and access to water leading to struggle, contestations and conflicts between people living in different locations along the river, and within each area. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this PhD Thesis to my wonderful parents, my beloved wife Lilian and our cherished children: Faith, Mark and Ryan. I love you so much! iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Ph.D. work has received both intensive and extensive support from individuals and institutions worth to acknowledge. First, I extend my sincerely gratitude to Bread for the World for providing the financial resources that made this work possible. At Bread for the World, I would like to thank Nadine Ebinghaus for helping me from the application stage and continued being my education advisor and supervisor, I appreciate how you put brain to see me growing academically. Fanny Kamptz, I thank you for always being there and making sure my welfare and travels are made possible in a timely manner. Sabine Minninger and Ulrike Schumacher, thank you for encouraging me to pursue this pathway and for showing me the funding possibilities and contacts for the application. Finaly is Dr. Joachim Funfgelt for encouraging and motivating me all the time, I can remember your words “keep it simple but moving”. I would like to thank and acknowledge my supervisors; Professor Chris Curtis and Dr. Melanie Samson for constructive, deep thoughts, motivations and help from the beginning to this stage. I benefited a lot from your perspectives and backgrounds. I am so proud of you especially the way you managed to make it achievable while taking me out of the panic zone. I am also thankful to Prof. Walter Leal for giving me a working space at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and being available to exchange relevant ideas. I am grateful to Lushoto District Council, Tanga Regional Secretary and Administrative Offices for giving me permission to conduct research and talk to communities in the Umba River sub-catchment. I am thankful to village leaders and households who provided useful information of which this Ph.D. thesis is constructed. I am also grateful to the GIS department (Olipa Simon in particular) at the University of Dar es Salaam for allowing me to use space, laboratory and working with me even during weekend and late hours and Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) for providing useful data and relevant materials. At TMA I also acknowldge Jafari Chobo (meteorologist) for working with me in several stages including filling missing data and running instant programme. My sincere appreciation to Anneth and Lydia who are fellow staff at Climate Action Network Tanzania for working diligently in my absence. I am also thankful to Msololo and Kelvin for their support during fieldwork time. Dr. Elikana and Dr Noah, I thank you for your advice on how I can advance faster and cover much ground. Lastly, I am grateful to my parents for sacrificing a lot and use limited resources to lay down an important base on which my education journey is built at. To my wife Lilian, our children for so many sacrifices and being there to offer valuable encouragements, prayers, and promise to me that you will do the needful in my absence. There is nothing beautiful I can repay you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................................... x ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 .......................................................................................................................................................................