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Despite the established literature on the vulnerability to climate change in various parts of Tanzania, it is worthwhile to assess the extent of this vulnerability of the peoples’ livelihoods and predict its future outcome. This is particularly important in the vulnerable ecosystems, that is, the semi-arid zones of Tanzania where the people’s livelihoods are highly attached to the declining local condition. The present study aims to assess the livelihoods vulnerability in Kongwa District, the semi-arid zone of Central Tanzania. In doing so, a wide range of methods were employed during data collection and analyses including surveys, informative interviews, discussions and observation. The study sampled 400 (≤10%) respondents during a survey. The Mann-Kendall Test with SPSS V20, Microsoft Excel and Theme content techniques were used for data analyses. The results indicate that climate stress has adversely impacted the quality of soil, vegetation, crop yields and intensified environmental degradation. Since most people depend upon the mentioned affected aspects, it is expected that also the level of livelihood vulnerability has elevated. Further, this situation has greatly contributed to increased poverty and thus, propagates the “tragedy of the common” to the available environmental resources. As a response to increased vulnerability, some farmers have abandoned thousands of hectares of agricultural farms that seemed to be less productive. Despite this, slight measures have been taken by both the government and other key stakeholders to limit vulnerability. The findings of this study provide a theoretical and practical basis for coordinating a sustainable man-environment relationship, ensuring the sustainability of the environment which is the major source of peoples’ livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the influence of soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and climate variability on crop yields in Kongwa District, central Tanzania. In doing so, climate data and soil samples were collected from Mnyakongo and Ugogoni villages through soil sampling, interviews and surveys. Walkley-Black method, Mann-Kendall test, and MS Excel were used to analyze SOC, climate, crop yields respectively. The results exhibited that the accumulation of SOC was significantly greater in soils under organic fertilization (1.15 and 0.80 MgC ha -1 at soil 0-20 cm and 20-30 cm depth) than under no-fertilization (0.35 and 0.30 MgC ha -1 at 0-20 cm and 20-30 cm) and decreased with increasing soil depths. Under these two soil treatments, the average yields for maize, sorghum and millet were almost 1.8 tn ha -1 under organic fertilization and 0.6 tn ha -1 under no-fertilization. Specifically, maize yields ranged from 1.5 to 2.2 tn ha -1 , while both sorghum and millet had 1.1-1.7 tn ha -1 . Therefore, yields were significantly higher under organic fertilizations than under no-fertilizations. Besides, the mean annual rainfall or temperature (1980‒2020) fluctuated at a decreasing (R 2  = 0.21) or an increasing trend (R 2  = 0.30). Comparatively, the yields for maize, sorghum or millet fluctuated at a decreasing trend at R 2  = 0.07, 0.05, or 0.85, respectively. Correspondingly, it was found that the temporal increase in rainfall and temperature had positive (R 2 ~0.5) and negative (R 2 ~0.3) correlations with crop yields, respectively. In contrast, the decline in rain's intensity and frequency had negative impacts on crop yields. Thus, both SOC and climate correlated with crop yields., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)