Climate Resilience in Developing Cities: Msimbazi Basin, Dar es Salaam

The Msimbazi Basin in Dar es Salaam faces severe flood risks exacerbated by rapid urbanisation and climate change, with annual losses estimated at $47 million. To address this, the Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme (TURP) was established in 2016 to implement a holistic strategy involving risk identification, reduction, emergency preparedness, and a 'resilience academy'. A central component is the proposed Msimbazi Basin City Park, which employs a hybrid approach combining ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) with hard engineering to manage floodwaters while providing socio-economic and biodiversity benefits. The document highlights that the government secured $20 million by framing the project as 'urban planning, restructuring and resilience' rather than solely flood management, suggesting that cross-sectoral project packaging is essential for accessing diverse funding streams.

• Dar es Salaam is experiencing rapid growth and is projected to become a mega city with over 10 million people by 2030. The Msimbazi Basin is a critical area where 27% of the city's population resides, but it suffers from insufficient service provision and high poverty.
• The Msimbazi Basin is highly vulnerable to torrential rains and flooding, resulting in average annual losses of $47 million. Climate change is increasing these risks through heavier rainfall, more frequent flooding, and higher mean temperatures.
• The Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme (TURP), launched in 2016 with support from the World Bank and DFID, utilizes a four-pillar framework: risk identification, risk reduction, emergency preparedness, and a resilience academy to build a climate-resilient urban population.
• Tanzania's resilience strategy emphasizes in-depth stakeholder engagement, exemplified by the Msimbazi Charrette and the Circle-Bao Tool, to develop a management framework based on four strategies: mitigate, protect, transform, and govern.
• The proposed Msimbazi Basin City Park adopts a hybrid approach that combines ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) with hard engineering. This nature-based solution aims to manage floodwaters through wetlands and mangrove forests while providing socio-economic benefits and biodiversity conservation.
• To secure $20 million in funding, the Tanzanian government framed the Msimbazi project as an 'urban planning, restructuring and resilience' initiative. This demonstrates that packaging projects to highlight multi-faceted socio-economic benefits allows access to funding streams not typically reserved for climate adaptation.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2019). Climate Resilience in Developing Cities: Msimbazi Basin, Dar es Salaam. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Policy-Insights-72-sauka.pdf

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Climate Resilience in Developing Cities: Msimbazi Basin, Dar es Salaam. 2019. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Policy-Insights-72-sauka.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Climate Resilience in Developing Cities: Msimbazi Basin, Dar es Salaam |date=July 2019 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Policy-Insights-72-sauka.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2019climate, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Climate Resilience in Developing Cities: Msimbazi Basin, Dar es Salaam}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Policy-Insights-72-sauka.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }