Paying to conserve watershed services in Pangani River Basin, Tanzania
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Nature Switzerland
Abstract
Human beings depend on the integrity of watersheds to provide ecosys-
tem services (e.g., water) that they need for their survival. The current watershed
degradation represents the most serious threat to the provision of watershed ser-
vices. The worldwide demand for integrated approaches to provide solutions to
water flow reduction represents a significant shift towards management focussed
on the sustained use of water catchment areas. This paper reports the findings of a
study that was carried out to explore the potential for paying for the management
of watershed areas in the Pangani River Basin in Tanzania. Site visits enabled the
collection of hydrological data, and documented reviews and structured question-
naires were used to collect socioeconomic data. MS Excel was applied in drawing
figures. We found that the minimum and maximum quantities of water discharge
were 11,300,365 and 15,839,833 m 3 and 7,787,600 and 8,602,361 m 3 in Arusha
and Moshi, respectively. Similarly, the minimum and maximum revenue collec-
tions from water users were €987,766, 60 and €1,659,160, 71; and €920,916, 40
and €1,456,075, 49 as projections and actual revenue collection, respectively. We
conclude that water supply problems are caused by watershed degradation and
obsolete water infrastructures. We recommend the integration of payment for
watershed conservation approaches into watershed management to enhance sus-
tainable water flow.
Description
Book chapter 4 of Conflict Resolution in Water Resources
and Environmental Management. pp. 63-79
Keywords
Watershed degradation, Water flow, Ecosystem services, Forest cover, Conservation