Assessment of Green Infrastructure Provision and Management: In the case of Debre Berhan Town, Ethiopia

Green infrastructure is one of the basic urban infrastructures of the city. It is the network of green elements which can play a significant role in improving urban environmental conditions, social inclusion and economic development. Even though green infrastructure plays indispensable role in the overall development of urban area socially, environmentally, culturally and economically in most of the cities and towns, they lacked attention to consider during plan preparation and consequently in implementation. As critically challenge, the major Green infrastructure that is lacking sufficient and standardized in Debre Berhan town. Hence, this study was conducted to identify the existing coverage, quantity, condition, perception of communities about use, participation and challenges in the provision and management of green infrastructure in Deber Berhan town. To achieve these objectives, the study employed both qualitative and quantitative research approaches and used descriptive survey methods to gather relevant data from primary and secondary sources through questionnaires, interviews and observations. Stratified random sampling techniques were used to select 369 sample households .Additionally 6 key informants were selected by purposively in four different sectors. The result of the study indicated that green infrastructure development was not implemented as proposed on structural plan of the town and lack of proper management. There were also low level of public awareness about the values of green infrastructure in general, low level of community participation, lack of budget, lack of skilled man power, chilling injuries and lack of co-ordination among different stakeholders towards the development and management of green infrastructure. To solve the challenges: create awareness of the communities as well as officials and leaders, improve participation of all stake holders, assign qualified professionals from woreda to kebele level, improve financial capacity through revenue generation and allocation of budget, establish nursery site and integration among different stakeholders were some of the recommendations.