Adaptation of Seaweed Farmers in Zanzibar to the Impacts of Climate Change

Abstract

Seaweed farming is an important alternative livelihood activity that has been heralded as a development success story. It has advanced women’s empowerment and economic liberation in coastal communities in Zanzibar, despite recent declines in its production. Using data from 36 semistructured interviews, we explore the impacts of climate change on seaweed farming in Zanzibar and the coping and adaptation strategies available to farmers. Interviews reveal that climatic changes observed in Zanzibar are characterized by increased temperatures, increased winds, and irregular rainfall, and these changes have negatively affected coastal seaweed farming yields and quality. Combined with economic challenges, these environmental stressors are threatening the sustainability of seaweed farming and the wider development impacts that have been gained over the past decades. Establishing seaweed farms in deeper water, using new technologies, could be an adaptation method to overcome rising temperatures; however, there are significant socioeconomic barriers for this to happen. For example, women lack access to boats and the ability to swim. Adaptation options to the increasing impacts of climate change will be possible only with institutional support, significant investment, and through the empowerment of women and the participation local communities.