The
assessment of generic management efforts to address the effects
of poor land use practices in lake nakivale wetland system in
Isingiro district, Uganda
Accepted 2nd September, 2013
Bintoora Kamukasa Kakurungu Adonia
Nkumba University, P. O. Box 237, Entebbe, Uganda.
*Corresponding author Email:bintoora@yahoo.com. Tel:
+256-77262263
Lake Nakivale Wetland system, a Ramsar site is currently
experiencing severe pressure from human induced degradation
emanating from poor land use practices. Consequently,
environmental problems such as wetland encroachment,
deforestation, siltation of water bodies, frequent fires, and
degradation of wildlife habitats as well as, over-exploitation
of wetland resources are now evident, widespread and appear to
be real threats to its conservation. In 2009, Isingiro District
Local Government in collaboration with partners in conservation
supported the implementation of interventions such as digging of
trenches across the steep slopes of surrounding hills and tree
planting on the shoreline to minimize the effects of soil
erosion on the wetland. This article provides the results of the
study that was carried out to assess the effectiveness of
wetland management. The study examined the major threats to the
conservation of the wetland, the initiatives by the local
government to address the environmental problems and attitude of
neighbouring communities towards the implementation of
management efforts. It also examined the existing legal and
institutional framework for managing wetland resources. A
household survey, focused group discussions and semi- structured
interviews were conducted. In addition, analysis of stakeholders
involved in wetland conservation was carried out. The results
indicate that although, there were adequate legal provisions and
institutional framework for conserving wetlands in Uganda,
threats and pressures on Lake Nakivale Wetland were immense,
widespread and alarming. Law enforcement and the political will
to support institutions mandated to manage the wetland achieve
conservation objectives were weak and insufficient. The district
department responsible for wetlands conservation was
understaffed, poorly funded and ill-equipped to deal with
conservation challenges. There was a need to build the capacity
of Isingiro District Local Government and local people to
effectively and efficiently implement wetland conservation
programmes and improve land use practices with or without
external assistance, if the integrity of Lake Nakivale Wetland
system was to be sustainably secured.
Key words: Institutional framework, land use practices,
management effectiveness, wetland ecological character, wetland
conservation.
This is an open access article
published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Cite this article as:
Adonia BKK (2013). The assessment
of generic management efforts to address the effects of poor land use practices
in lake nakivale wetland system in Isingiro district, Uganda. Acad. J. Environ.
Sci. 1(7): 130-146.
