Environmental Management https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-022-01605-y Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Rondo Dwarf Galago in Coastal Forests, Tanzania Mohamed Haji 1,2 ● Jared Sylivester Bakuza 3 Received: 17 May 2021 / Accepted: 31 January 2022 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022 Abstract Negative effects of climate change on organisms and their habitats pose significant conservation challenges especially for species already under siege from other threats like habitat loss, pollution and diseases. This study assessed the extent to which the Rondo dwarf galago (Paragalago rondoensis), an endangered primate in the coastal forests in eastern Tanzania is threatened by climate change. Past and projected temperature and precipitation records from Tanzania Meteorological Authority were overlaid with P. rondoensis distribution range to assess the species exposure to climate extremes. Traits predisposing it to climate change were also obtained from published literature and experts on the organism’s biology to determine its sensitivity. The P. rondoensis vulnerability to climate change was obtained by feeding exposure and sensitivity data into Natureserve’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) software. Results indicated that most of Rondo galago’s habitat and distribution range will be exposed to a temperature increase of 1 to 1.3 °C by 2050, which if combined with other threats, is likely to further endanger the species survival. Due to its diet specialization on insects, which are moisture-dependent, any extreme decrease in humidity will reduce its diet availability thereby threatening the species further. Moreover, Rondo galago’s limited habitats and distribution range in the East African tropical coastal forests, raises the species threat level. Rondo galago’s conservation should be enhanced through creation of corridors to facilitate its possible shifts to conducive and safer habitats in the event of extreme weather. Climate change aspects should also be integrated into the species conservation strategies. Keywords Vulnerability ● CCVI ● Exposure ● Sensitivity ● Rondo galago Background According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is defined as the variation in the mean and variability of weather that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer (IPCC 2014). It is manifested in long-term trends through temperature increases and shifts or rainfall fluctuation patterns. Over the past 100 years, the earth has warmed by ~1.5 °C reaching pre-industrial levels (Allen et al. 2018). Compared to preceding decades since 1850, each of the last three decades has been consecutively warmer (IPCC 2013). The global increase in temperature has been attributed to human activities such as the use of fossil fuels and increasing deforestation and agricultural activities (IPCC 2013). Rainfall has also increased in the northern hemisphere particularly in the middle and high latitudes while it has decreased in the sub-tropical regions (Jiang et al. 2021). Climate change can have a significant impact on species and ecosystems. For instance, extreme and unpredictable weather can significantly increase species’ vulnerability for extinction depending on the organism’s home range, popula- tion size and natural history characteristics (Thomas et al. 2004; Williams et al. 2008). In such circumstances, climate change is likely to accelerate the synergistic impact of existing threats thereby potentially driving the species to disappearance from the earth, especially if no measures are taken. Species with limited dispersal range for instance or those facing habitat degradation and fragmentation are not able to utilize new habitats in the event of climatic change phenomenon (Massot et al. 2008; Foden and Young 2016). Furthermore, species * Jared Sylivester Bakuza bakuzajared@yahoo.co.uk 1 Aga Khan Education Services Tanzania, P.O. Box 125Fire Road, Upanga, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 2 Centre for Climate Change Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35181, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Dar es Salaam University College of Education, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 2329, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: