The urban governance of climate change adaptation in least-developed African countries and in small cities: the engagement of local decision-makers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Karonga, Malawi

Abstract

Cities across the world have an increasingly significant role to play in the climate change arena. Despite the high vulnerability of African countries to climate change, less work has examined climate change governance within African cities. This paper investigates the constraints and enablers to climate governance in two cities located in least-developed African economies (Karonga, Malawi, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania). It does so by analysing the personal engagement of key urban decision-makers with climate change issues, along cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions. Semi-structured interviews with a range of local government actors suggest that African cities in low-income economies are aware, concerned and motivated to act on climate change issues. The ability for large African cities to act seems to be reliant in large part on connections to international networks that provide various resources; smaller cities seem to collaborate more effectively at the ‘within the city’ scale to overcome constraints to climate change governance. The findings point to the potential for positive urban governance of climate change in developing country cities, including small cities, and pave the way for further emphasis to be placed on using the concept of engagement to deepen understanding of urban climate change governance.