Evaluating socio-cultural roles in behavioural adaptation for sustainability of rural water supply for climate change intervention. A case study of Sangara Village, Babati District, Manyara Region, Tanzania

Abstract

Climate change significantly threatens rural water supply infrastructures, compromising water quality and availability while increasing community vulnerability. This study evaluated socio-cultural roles in behavioural adaptation for sustaining rural water supply for climate change intervention. The analysis was conducted using the RANAS model, a behavioural change framework where data collection methods were Household surveys, Interviews and Focus Group Discussions. The findings were: 70.7% of respondents never engage in tree planting while 95.9% cut trees for charcoal production. Most participants (91.2%) consider charcoal the low-cost energy source, and 56.7% prefer cooking with firewood. The 76.3% recognize agriculture's environmental degradation and 73.1% acknowledge environmental protection norms where behaviours remain counterproductive to intervention for environmental sustainability while 82.3% support integrating scientific knowledge with traditional practices in climate adaptation. The community behaviours largely oppose climate change intervention sustainability thus calling the Government and Non-Governmental Organizations for need and applying behavioural change to sustainable access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.