Abstract

The climate change is affecting human health, food security and livelihoods, quality and availability of land, water and other natural resources. It poses a serious threat to every aspect of human life. The consequences of climate change are not experienced evenly, women are said to be likely and disproportionately affected. Furthermore, women capacity to cope with effects of climate change is said to be as well more disadvantageous. However, empirical evidence on capacity of the indigenous and remote women are scarce. Therefore, this study specifically examines strategies used by rural women in coping with effects of climate change, business opportunities emerging out of coping strategies and the challenges facing rural women in coping with effects of climate change in North Tanzania. This study used quantitative approach with descriptive cross-sectional survey design. The data were collected from 500 Maasai rural women in Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Manyara sampled through convenient sampling technique. The data were collected using a questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics. 
The findings reveal that, the majority (79%) of the women used development and diversification of income sources, cost management and social capital management to cope with the effects of climate change. Differently, the majority (88%) of the women did not use environmental stress management in coping with the effects of climate change. Furthermore, the majority (83%) of the surveyed Maasai rural women benefited business opportunities such as formulation of business groups for loans’ accessibility, doing small businesses, on participation in trainings and meetings, income generation through cultural tourism and networking which emerged from coping strategies for climate change. In addition, the majority (90%) of the women faced challenges such as overrepresentation of rural women among poor, barriers to decision-making, experiencing disproportionate mobility and unequal access to resources in coping with effects of climate change. Generally, the surveyed women practically dealt with coping strategies and not strategies for building up livelihood assets. This study advocates for serious engagement of concerned stakeholders in supporting the women to practice both coping strategies and strategies for building up livelihood assets on the effects of climate change.