Land Cover Change in Urban Morphological Types of Dar es Salaam and Its Implication for Green Structures and Ecosystem Services

Deusdedit Kibassa, and Shemdoe R.

Institute of Human Settlement Studies (IHSS), Ardhi University (ARU), Tanzania

Abstract: Green structures play crucial role in most cities in the world by providing various ecosystem services of economic and social values. In urban areas where people and property are increasingly concentrated, the multiple benefits that can be obtained from green structure are especially important in supporting sustainable development. Without green structure our cities would be hotter, more uncomfortable, more prone to flooding, and less attractive places to live, work, visit and invest. Yet across African cities we are witnessing fast land cover changes associated with loss of precious green resource — and related benefits — through rapid development and inadequate planning. Informal urbanism poses more challenges as compared to formal because in the formal urban setting the provision for green structures is always maintained. In Dar es Salaam, land cover change due to population increase and urbanization has led to green structures disappearance. Although limited studies have been conducted to establish its dynamism, until now assessment of lost ecosystem services associated with the dynamism using land cover analysis technique has not been done. This project aimed to establish green structures dynamism due to urbanization and population growth and the loss of their ecosystem services by using land cover assessment technique. The quantitative assessment utilized available data for years 2002 and 2008. The study showed there was significant loss of ecosystem services due to decrease of green structures by more than 6 percent from 2002 to 2008. The study establishes that if nothing is done to curb the situation, Dar es Salaam will have little or no green structures in next thirty to forty years. That will mean loss of all the benefits including food, temperature reduction, shade, water and soil formation as well as cultural benefits. Any continued disappearance of ecosystem services will impose limits on development in terms of increasing cost of living, because people will be forced to use more water and electricity for cooling. The existing situation calls for immediate measures to reverse the trend and restore ecosystem services through limiting the urbanization process within existing green structures.

Key words: urbanization, population growth, green structures, livelihood