Drivers of Wetland Utilisation Patterns and The Current Status of Provisioning and Cultural Services In Driefontein and Intunjambili Wetlands, Zimbabwe

The study assesses drivers of wetland utilisation patterns and the current status of provisioning and cultural services in Driefontein and Intunjambili wetlands, Zimbabwe. A total of 280 questionnaires were administered together with semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants in the two wetlands. Qualitative data obtained through the questionnaire survey and key informant interviews were analyzed using the content analysis method. The majority of the households in Driefontein (86%) and Intunjambili (75%) indicated that there is no change in wetland utilisation patterns over the past decade as horticultural activities remain the predominant activity. Most households (90%) in Intunjambili indicated that the availability of water is the major factor influencing wetland use. This was different from Driefontein where market availability for horticultural products (66%) was the main reason for wetland use. Land use land cover (LULC) changes established through analysis of remotely sensed imagery for the years 1999, 2009 and 2019 indicate an increase in the spatial extent of the cultivated area, bare land and a decrease in the area covered by water. Results also show that the two wetlands are providing water for drinking and crop cultivation, pasture for livestock grazing and opportunities for academic incursions. Overall, the two wetlands provide essential provisioning and cultural services hence the need for wise use and proper management to prevent their degradation and possibly loss of human benefits.

Wetlands in Ethiopia: Lessons From 20 years of Research, Policy and Practice

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa wetlands provide ecosystem services that are critical to the development needs of many people. Local wetland use, however, is often at odds with broader national policy goals in which narratives of conservation and protection dominate, hence a recurring challenge is how to reconcile these tensions through the development of policies and field practice that deliver sustainable development. In this paper we examine the extent to which this challenge has been achieved in Ethiopia, charting the changes in wetlands policy and discourse over the last twenty years while reviewing the contribution of the multidisciplinary Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP) (1997–2000). Our analysis suggests that despite EWRP having a significant legacy in developing national interest in wetlands among research, government and non-governmental organisations, its more holistic social-ecological interpretation of wetland management remains neglected within a policy arena dominated by specific sectoral interests and little recognition of the needs of local people. In exploring the impacts at the local level, recent investigations with communities in Ilu Aba Bora Zone highlight adjustments in wetland use that famers attribute to environmental, economic and social change, but which also evidence the adaptive nature of wetland-based livelihoods.

Wetland Use/Cover Changes and Local Perceptions in Uganda

<p>With increasing population, coupled with land shortage and weather variations, wetlands in Uganda have continued to face degradation due to mainly conversion for agricultural, industrial and settlement purposes. The objective of this study was to determine the spatial and temporal wetland use/cover changes and local perceptions attributed to these changes. The study utilized three sets of ortho-rectified and cloud free Landsat TM/ETM+/MSS temporal images (30 m) of 1986, 2000 and 2011. The classification procedures were carried out using an Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS) software version 3.7. A wetland classification system for Uganda developed by the National Biomass Study, 2003 was adopted to describe the wetland use/cover types. The classified images were validated in a ground truthing exercise using Global Positioning System (GPS) to improve on the classification accuracy. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with communities adjacent to the wetlands in each of three of the ten Ugandan agro-ecological zones to determine the underlying drivers of wetland use/cover changes, while household interviews generated information on local perceptions of the changes. Significant changes were mainly observed in wetland use/cover between 1986 and 2011. Major factors responsible for these changes were subsistence farming due to intensification of growing paddy rice in Kyoga plains, an influx of migrants who accessed wetlands for daily subsistence (livestock grazing) in South western farmlands and proximity to urban centres in the Lake Victoria Crescent. In all the sampled agro-ecological zones, increased crop farming in wetlands was due to changing opportunities created by existent large markets for wetland crops. Majority (60%) of the local people perceived wetlands in their proximity to have undergone high degradation within the last 10 years, and to have declined in quantity and quality of vegetation, soil fertility and water levels. There was a noticeable variation across the sampled agro-ecological zones, with the highest proportion of local communities perceiving degradation being in Kyoga plains (76%), followed by Lake Victoria crescent (63%) and South-western farmlands (41%). Locally perceived threats to wetlands were mainly from crop growing that accounted for 33% of the frequency of mentioned threats, collection of wetland resources (30%), and prolonged floods and droughts (12%). This study confirms the importance of economic opportunities from new market outlets and migration in its various forms as key factors in land use change, especially at timescales of a couple of decades.<strong></strong></p>

Watershed management with special emphasis on fresh water wetland: a case study of a flood plain wetland in west Bengal, India

The last few decades we have witnessed an enormous rise in awareness of the importance of wetlands. Mathura beel1 has been assumed to take the attention in recent years because of its ecological significance in terms of flood control, water purification, aquatic productivity, and microclimatic regulation etc. The aim of this paper is to present a complete scenario of Mathura beel through different analyses. To materialize the main objective, the water quality monitoring, socioeconomic analyses, and a perception study on wetland use and wetland threat are considered separately. In this study, the objective was extended to observe the complete socio-economic status, and a detailed perceptional study on wetland use, and wetland threat. At the end of the study, detailed management options have been given to protect and to conserve the economy and the ecosystem of Mathura beel.