Flooding in East Africa: The impacts and implications

Around the world, policymakers, city officials and technical experts are already responding to climate change. To make informed decisions, these stakeholders need to understand the causes, likelihood and severity of climate change impacts and the range, cost and efficacy of the various options to limit or adapt to them. The issue is complex and, to create effective programmes to combat the myriad risks, city officials and experts need to understand the entire system. Only then can they can make informed decisions, increase the resilience of their cities and citizens and be prepared in the event of a flood.

This report is aimed primarily at policymakers in emerging megacities, where the population is set to reach more than 3 million by 2050, but also at practitioners and other interested parties. It is the first in a two-part series on the flooding issues faced by East Africa, aimed at deepening city officials’ and planning departments’ understanding of the long-term sectoral impacts of flooding. The objective is to inform on and raise awareness of climate change issues, specifically, flooding in emerging megacities in East Africa. The report covers the topics: 

• The context of flooding in East African megacities and why this is an issue
• The types of floods experienced in this region
• Case Study of Dar es Salaam: The city context and history of flooding 
• Case Study of Dar es Salaam: The economic and health costs of flooding to the city 
• Case Study of Dar es Salaam: A future scenario of flooding in Dar es Salaam
• Links between flooding and other issues and city departments 

The second report in this series will look at current flood-related projects in Dar es Salaam and the CFF’s activities in the city, it will be published in early 2021.