DAR ES SALAAM, June 6 -- IN the opulent conference halls of Samarkand, far from the drought-hit fields of East Africa, Tanzanian delegates have warned that unless global climate finance is directed to rural communities, environmental destruction will only accelerate, deepening the vulnerability of those least responsible for the crisis.

For generations, farmers and pastoralists across Tanzania have relied on predictable rainfall patterns to decide when to plant, graze or harvest water.

Today, that certainty is slipping away. Rains come too late or fall violently. Rivers that once flowed year-round are running dry. Pastures wither before cattle can graze, while trees vanish into charcoal kilns. Climate change and environmental destructio...