Abstract

Most studies have reported benefits of green spaces to households but few studies have been reported on negative effects (disservices) as well as their economic cost. Understanding ecosystem disservices from home greenery is important for health, safety and security of urban environment. The current paper reports on a study on economic value of green spaces including aesthetics, health, safety and security, physical, social and economic disservices. The study employed focus group discussion and in-depth interviews using structured questionnaire. Results indicate that, 65% of the respondents face the aforementioned disservices. Disservices which are aesthetic in nature were found to be faced by majority followed by health and physical disservices. The study has shown that households spend an average of TZS 60,691 (USD 26) per year on prevention and control of aesthetic and health disservices. In totality, valuation of ecosystem disservices from home greeneries has revealed that a household can incur an average total cost of TZS 116,817 (USD 50) per year. At City level, the total disservice cost is estimated to be TZS 106 billion (USD 45,415,595) per year. Disservices affect 5% of the annual household income on preventing and controlling their impacts. The study recommends that departments responsible for handling environmental management issues should recognize the value of green space and integrate aesthetic factors into their planning and budgeting.

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