TITLE:
Government and Community Involvement in Environmental Protection and Flood Risk Management: Lessons from Keko Machungwa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
AUTHORS:
Tumpale Sakijege, Junun Sartohadi, Muh Aris Marfai, Gabriel Kassenga, Samson Kasala
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Protection, Community, Government, Flood Risks, Keko Machungwa
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.9,
June
19,
2014
ABSTRACT: Since the
1960s, most cities in developing countries have faced a high rate of
urbanization, which in turn has caused more harm to low-income earners, in
urban areas. A majority of low-income earners most often face difficulties in
accessing land in planned areas, as a result they are forced to build houses in
unplanned settlements that are vulnerable to natural hazards. The situation is
worse to the extent that people encroach the most vulnerable areas (hazard
lands). As concentration of people increases, these unplanned areas become more
unsafe to live in. This is partly due to the risks associated with natural
hazards particularly flooding. Further, vulnerability of unplanned settlements
in developing countries is aggravated by hosts of problems caused by many factors,
including inadequate Government involvement in: environmental protection
especially managing hazard lands and helping the community to minimize risks
associated with hazards. This paper addresses this issue. It argues that
community and Government initiatives are vital to any strategy for flood risk
reduction and environmental protection in general. The study employed both the
primary and the secondary data sources. Data collection tools and techniques
involved in this study included: Checklist to various leaders, interview using
questionnaires, focus group discussion, analysis of aerial photographs and non
participant observation. A total of 70 households from within Keko Machungwa
were interviewed. The study revealed that flooding is largely contributed by
construction done by a large scale developer on a water course; and when
affected community initiated a strategy to solve the problem they partially
succeed due to inadequate support from the Government and other stakeholders.
These findings could be useful to strengthen policy and legislation in
environmental protection, management and flood control as well as in
intervening land use conflicts between local community and developers.