| dc.description.abstract | Due to the lack of awareness of the significance of wetlands rules and regulations, the level of understanding, attitudes and perceptions toward their application in the protection and management of wetlands strongly influence compliance with them. In order to safeguard public health and environmental quality, create and reinforce the credibility of environmental requirements, and save costs and liabilities, compliance with wetland regulatory framework is crucial. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of the wetland regulatory framework towards sustainable use of wetlands. Three research objectives guided the study and these were. 1. To assess the level of awareness on wetland laws and regulations, 2. To assess the community attitude towards wetland laws and regulations and 3. To assess the challenges in the enforcement of wetland laws and regulations. Data was analyzed in SPSS and different models were run for each objective. For objective one, a binary logistic regression model was used to determine the effect of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents on the level of awareness on wetland laws. Where, only five variables were found significantly affecting the level of awareness on wetland laws. These factors were; sex, education level, language, income levels and information source. The non-significant variables were age, employment status, and the period of information delivery. For objective two, a chi-square test was performed to compare attitudes and characteristics of the respondents. For objective3, Descriptive statistics for example frequencies and percentages were derived for the different factors. A chi-square test was performed to compare factors limiting compliance stated and the characteristics of the respondents. The study revealed that sex, education, language, income levels and source of information affected awareness. Education, employment and income levels had an influence on attitudes towards wetlands laws and regulations. Among the challenges that limit compliance to wetland laws and regulations are unawareness, poverty, fertility of the wetland as the common factors. There is need to sensitize males and increase their awareness on wetlands laws and regulations, more education programs about wetland laws and regulations aiming at informing and changing people’s negative attitudes should be promoted.
Key words; regulatory framework, compliance, environmental requirements, sustainable use. | en_US |
