| dc.description.abstract | Wetland covers approximately 6% of the earth’s surface. In Uganda, wetland coverage has reduced from 13 percent in 1990 to 8.6 percent in 2015. Olweny wetland is among the most productive and diverse ecosystems, providing a range of services such as food, fresh water, habitat, fodder, fuelwood. The objectives of the study were to evaluate impacts of rice growing on provisioning services, assessing the mitigation measures put in place to reduce the impacts of rice growing on wetland. A random sampling approach was used for household selection and data collection using a prepared questionnaire. A total of 70 respondents were sampled and the data collected was analyzed, factors driving people to cultivate in wetland, educational background of the people, marital status, age brackets, effects of rice growing on provisioning services, effects of rice growing on people’s livelihood and economic strength, mitigation measures to reduce the degradation of wetland. The results of the study showed that the factor driving people to continue cultivating rice in wetland are the presence of fertile soil as represented by 41.4%, plenty of water with 25.7%, population pressure and free land both having 14.3% and influence from others with 4.3%. The negative impacts of rice growing includes loss of habitat, loss of tree species, unreliable rainfall, degradation of water quality, shortages of pastures, pollution of surface water. The mitigation measures, use of organic manure to improve fertility of soil, introduction of high yielding varieties of crops, introduction of upland rice. Therefore, the study concluded that rice growing in wetland has impacted on the provisioning services, loss of habitat, loss of tree species, degradation of water quality, shortages of fodder, pollution of water, shortages of fuelwood. The study recommended. I) massive sensitization of people about the impacts of rice growing on wetland provisioning services since they impact the livelihood of people and their economic strength. ii) There should be introduction of high yielding varieties of crops to avoid over dependence of people on wetland. iii) there should be implementation of strong restriction and laws that protect wetland from being over exploited. iv) there should be education of people about the socio-economic benefits of wetland to people. | en_US |
