| dc.description.abstract | Wetlands continue to decline globally and the ecosystem provision of wetlands is rapidly diminishing. Despite being one of the richest eco-systems on the globe providing vital services like climate regulation, flood control, wetlands are at a threat of degradation. There is need to manage wetland resources by putting into effort sustainable practices of the biophysical, socioeconomic values for the present and future generations. The overall aim of the study was to contribute to the understanding of impacts of wetland degradation on community livelihoods which will help in overall management, effective restoration practices for sustainable management of wetlands in Genina Gganda. Specifically, the study sought to map the changes in wetland cover from 2000-2022, find out the factors that have contributed to Lubigi wetland encroachment and to identify the effects of wetland degradation on community livelihoods in Genina, Ganda. The study utilized three sets of Landsat TM/ETM+/MSS temporal images (30 m) of 2000, 2010 and 2022. The classification procedures were carried out using an arc GIS software version 10.8.A cross sectional research study was undertaken using a mixed approach where simple random sampling was employed in selection of the households for interviews and purposive sampling on the key informants. Data was collected through field surveys, interviews and direct field observations and then analyzed using thematic content analysis were descriptive statistics. The study findings revealed in a period of 22 years, wetlands had changed. Between 2000 and 2022, wetlands reduced by 3.05% with an annual change rate of 0.14%. land uses like the built up area and roads had increased by 2.87% and 0.17% with annual change rates of 0.13% and 0.01% respectively. The decline in the wetland cover was attributed to factors like population pressure (65.42%), over urbanization (59.68%), poor policy (45.16%), increased flooding (43.55%), construction (37.1%) and crop cultivation (20.97%). The study revealed that there were no significant relationships between lubigi wetland degradation, education levels and diseases. Based on the normal approximations, the hypotheses were not statistically significant with p-values greater than 0.05. The study found out that flooding (72.58%), biodiversity loss (59.68%), Water borne diseases (54.84%) and pollution (38.71%) were some of the major implications that resulted from wetland degradation. The study will therefore implement the Parish Development Model (Local Government, 2021) in order to fulfill its pillar 7 that aims at changing people’s mindset towards resource utilization and management because most people perceive wetlands as waste lands without knowing the great role they play in modifying environment | en_US |
