Economic assessment of ecosystem goods and services delivered by Pangani basin, Tanzania.
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Date
2006
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Abstract
Ecosystem services are increasingly promoted as a means for documenting the values humans
place on ecosystems and evaluating benefits derived from natural resources. However, one of the
main reasons that scientists and decision-makers are worried about the current trend of ecosystem
degradation is that ecosystems provide valuable services and there are strong indications that
these services have been degraded considerably. This draft paper on economic assessment of
goods and services delivered by Pangani Basin is part of a PhD study that focuses on Potential for
Payment for Water Services in Pangani Basin Tanzania. Field surveys, structured questionnaires,
interviews with key informants and literature reviews were the main tools for data collection.
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was the main software for data analysis. Microsoft
excel was used to produce figures and tables. Although the analysis is still going on, preliminary
findings indicated that goods and services include water for power production, domestic uses,
irrigation; aquaculture and small scale fishing nutrient regulation; commercial crops irrigation;
enjoyment of scenic beauty and eco-tourism; just to name a few a just some of the ecosystem
goods and services delivered by Pangani Basin. Commercial flower growers (mainly companies
from Holland) are the water user stakeholders in Pangani Basin. These include: Dekker
Tanzania-Arusha, Tanzania Flowers, Dekker Moshi, Kilflora Fower Cuttings, etc. The average
value of water in Basin and Pangani Basin was Tanzania shilling 36, 769 and 52, 960 millions
respectively where as the upper bound was 45, 962 and 66, 200 respectively. Also the average
prices of water in villages were Tsh1.50/lt in the highlands, 1.25/lt in the Kirua Swamps area and
Tsh1.20/lt at the coast. These prices, equivalent to Tsh 1500, Tsh 1250 and Tsh 1200 per m3
respectively. It can be concluded that, a thoroughly economic assessment of water values should
be undertaken in Pangani Basin. The way forward is to finish data analysis for the data collected
so far and collect more information for the study.
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Keywords
Ecosystem services, water values, Pangani Basin, Tanzania