Socioeconomic activities in Kadibo division of Nyando wetlands and their implication for wetland conservation

Abstract

The need to use wetlands sustainably is of great importance as biodiversity is higher in these regions and basic human needs are most acute. The threat from overuse and overexploitation; lack of application of new management technologies and weak institutional policies have resulted in reduction of the biodiversity within wetlands. The main aim of this study was to investigate and propose ways to enhance wetland resource utilization for sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem services in Kadibo division of Kisumu district, Kenya. A questionnaire survey was administered face to face to the respondents. This questionnaire survey was subjected to sample population of households in three agroecological zones of the division. Some questionnaire responses were ranked and this ranking involved farmer’s subjective evaluation based on an ordinal scale. The questionnaire responses were standardized by using a standard scale of 1 to 5. Personal in depth key informant interviews were conducted randomly with farmers, research personnel and government officers in the study area. The questionnaire data was then subjected to nonparametric analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Kruskal-Wallis Test and Wilcoxon Scores implemented in SAS Version 9.1 at 5% probability level. Descriptive statistics such as means and frequencies was conducted. In addition, a Principle Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted on some response parameters of the questionnaire. 18.4% of the sampled respondents were found not to practice any soil conservation measures while those who applied soil conservation measures, majority (23.2%) were found to use storm drain construction. The PCA results for the mode of wetland resource exploitation by the respondents had bee keeping, water for domestic use, and eco-tourism loading significantly in component 1 with a variance of 25%. On community perception about the factors threatening wetland existence, fishing, farming, harvesting of handcraft and thatching grass loaded significantly in component 1 with a variance of 37.9 %. Practices such as ecotourism and recreation, educational sites and agroforestry were significant among sustainable development options proposed by respondents. Consumptive wetland resource utilization practices had resulted in decrease in the wetland areas and their poor ecological performance.