This study examines pastoralists’ perception on climate change and impacts on cattle production from ten study villages of Monduli District in Tanzania. This study drew empirical data from 130 cattle owners and 81 participants from focus group discussions in the study villages. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data respectively. Findings from this study indicate that pastoralists are well aware of the general climate trends in their location, its variability and the impacts of extreme weather events on cattle production. The main climate changes perceived by pastoralists include more erratic and reduced amounts of rainfall, rise in temperature and prolonged and frequent periods of drought. Pastoralists mainly view population pressure and tree cutting as the major causes of climate change. Further, this study found that there are no existing climate risk programmes and early warning systems across the district. Importantly, pastoralists reported the negative impacts of climate change on cattle production. The severe recurrent drought periods result in shortage of forage and water, leading to cattle starvation and malnutrition. Pastoralists reported massive cattle deaths and outbreaks of diseases such as contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and tick-borne diseases. Further, reduction in milk production and poor livestock market prices were also reported as negative impacts on cattle production. Given the range of negative impacts of current climate change and extreme weather events on cattle production, the implications of climate change must be taken into account to ensure longer-term survival and sustainability of pastoralist communities through strengthening of climate risk awareness programs and early warning systems across the district. Further, this study recommends that government and non-governmental organizations should improve institutional support to pastoralists in order to help them deal with the negative impacts of climate change on livestock production.

中文翻译：

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坦桑尼亚北部牧民对气候变化的认识及其对牛生产的影响

这项研究考察了坦桑尼亚蒙杜利地区十个研究村庄中牧民对气候变化及其对牛生产的影响的看法。这项研究从研究村庄的130位牛主人和81位焦点小组讨论的参与者中获得了经验数据。描述性统计和主题分析分别用于分析数据。这项研究的结果表明，牧民对他们所处位置的总体气候趋势，变化性以及极端天气事件对牛群的影响都非常了解。牧民认为主要的气候变化包括降雨更加不稳定和减少，温度升高以及干旱的长期频繁。牧民主要将人口压力和砍伐树木视为造成气候变化的主要原因。进一步，这项研究发现，该地区没有现有的气候风险计划和预警系统。重要的是，牧民报告了气候变化对牲畜生产的负面影响。严重的反复干旱时期导致草料和水的短缺，导致牛饥饿和营养不良。牧民报告说，大量的牛死亡和疾病爆发，例如传染性牛胸膜肺炎和diseases传疾病。此外，据报道，牛奶减产和牲畜市场价格低廉对牛的生产也有不利影响。鉴于当前的气候变化和极端天气事件对牛的生产产生了一系列负面影响，必须考虑到气候变化的影响，以通过加强整个地区的气候风险意识计划和预警系统来确保牧民社区的长期生存和可持续性。此外，这项研究建议政府和非政府组织应改善对牧民的机构支持，以帮助他们应对气候变化对畜牧生产的不利影响。