Assessing the impacts of land use change on the community livelihoods in Kinawataka wetland.

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 Land use changes on community livelihoods which will help in overall management, effective restoration practices for sustainable management of wetlands. Specifically, the study sought to map the changes in wetland cover from 2010-2023, find out the factors that have contributed to Kinawataka wetland encroachment and to identify the effects of Land use changes on community livelihoods in Kinawataka Wetland. The study utilized two sets of Landsat TM/ETM+/MSS temporal images (30m) of 2010 and 2023. The classification procedures were carried out using Arc GIS Pro. 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 13 years, wetlands had changed. Between 2010 and 2023, 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 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