Geo-Eye

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify the ways in which climate change had and still has played a significant role on the land-based conflicts in Kilosa district since 1967. The district has experienced a number of serious climatic catastrophes such as intensification of climate sensitive diseases, flooding, livestock deaths, droughts and widespread crop failures. These became the main cause of the conflicts, fighting and misunderstanding between different tribes particularly two major groups of farmers and herdsmen over the land use. A conflict between farmers and Pastoralist over land use in Kilosa has been rooted for many decades now but climate change has culminated the historical hostility in an inexorable way. With its location in the central part of Tanzania, Kilosa has a population of 438,175(National Census Report, 2012) in area of 14,265 Km2 and the main economic activities people is livestock keeping and farming. Due to droughts, widespread crop failures and animals diseases herdsmen (pastoralists) were and are migrating from different parts of the district and looking for pastures and water sources available for themselves and their animals. In migration, they encounters with arable farmers who are total affected by widespread crop failures and floods, resultantly to land-based conflicts become a new episode in history. The paper highlights the critical role of climate change on land based conflicts in Kilosa district with view of suggesting coping mechanisms to be adopted by the societies.

Keywords: climate change, Land based conflict, Arable farmers, herdsmen, droughts.