An investigation into the relationship between human activities and environmental degradation in Kajjansi Town Council : Case Study Kajjansi Town

Abstract

Kajjansi Town Council is in the first steps of the town Council, it’s a well zoned area and also protecting the environmentally sensitive areas, however due to many developments that are coming up and those that have been already established to gain from the benefits associated with this upgrade to Town Council status. This research seeks to investigate the relationship between human activities and environment degradation. With the objectives of the study being; to find out the human activities that have influenced environment degradation in Kajjansi town Council, to find out the factors which have contributed to environmental degradation in Kajjansi town council and to assess the impacts of environmental degradation caused by human activities in Kajjansi town council. The scope considered parishes of Bulwanyi, Bweya, Kitende, Nakawuka, Namuland, Nankonge, Ngongolo, Nsaggu, Sissa and Wamala though it considered Namulanda, Kitende and Sissa. The significance of the study was to help policy makers to recognize the impact of specific human activities in a developing city. Literature review, this section aimed to understand the nature and management of environmental degradation in Kajjansi Town Council, here we defined human activities as something that people do or cause to happen, and landuse was defined as the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlement. Causes of environmental degradation include industrialization, overpopulation deforestation, agricultural development, urbanization, water pollution, transport. The impacts of environmental degradation caused by human activities include loss of biodiversity, soil erosion. Possible strategies that can reduce environmental degradation included direct controls and regulation Section three: Research Methodology, focused on the description of the procedures that were employed in the study. The targeted population was Kajjansi Town Council local leaders, technocrats like planners. Multi-stage sampling was used and 55 households were chosen, political leaders 3 and technocrats 3. Data collection instruments are interview method, oral interview method, focus group discussion, photography. The research design used a descriptive survey design whereby both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. The research findings showed that men were interviewed than female, 90% of the people in Kajjansi town council could at least explain a bit of what they understood of environmental degradation. The main human activities in Kajjansi town council are agriculture, brick laying,

iii

transport and so on. It was noticed that agriculture was the main culprit for environmental degradation. Factors which contributed to environmental degradation overpopulation had over 31%. Section five is all about drawing sense, of the findings, and explaining why data was coming out that way. Lastly Section six drew conclusions and clearly explained the relationship between human activities and environmental degradation.