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The Role of ‘Dryland Wetlands’ in Semi AridMikuyuni
River Catchment in South Eastern Kenya as sources of
livelihood
Romulus Abila * 1 , Margaret Awuor Owuor 1 and Cecilia
M. Musyoka 2 Agatha Nthenge 3
1 School of Water Resources Science and Technology.
South Eastern Kenya University Kenya.
2 Department of Mathematics and Actuarial
Science.South Eastern Kenya University, Kenya.
3 Department of Environmental Science, Chuka
University, Kenya
*Email for correspondence: romulus.abila@seku.ac.ke,
abilaowino@gmail.com,
Abstract
Communities in Kenya’s arid and semi arid lands (ASALs)
experience high levels of poverty due to limited
livelihood opportunities. ‘Dryland wetlands’ have been
recognized as possible sources of livelihood
opportunities yet without awareness and conservation
measures, unsustainable exploitation of such wetlands
could further contribute to their degradation. We
analysed the role Mikuyuini ‘dryland wetland’ in south
eastern Kenya as a source of livelihood by administering
semi structured questionnaires to sixty wetland
residents. The following 9 main direct economic gains
from the wetland were identified: vegetable growing,
bee keeping, fishing in the ‘dams’ during rainy season,
sand harvesting, source of water for domestic and
livestock, grazing land, brick making, source of building
stone, source of trees for charcoal burning, and source
of grass for thatching. There are different perceptions
on who ‘owns’ the wetland. There is a high degree of
awareness by the community on economic activities
that are detrimental to the ecological integrity of the
wetlands. The following 5 activities were identified as
detrimental: grazing, sand harvesting, tree cutting for
charcoal, stone breaking and poor farming methods
along the rivers. Conflicts among members of the
community and between members of the
community and two main church based organizations
operation within the locality as well as government law
enforcement agencies often arise concerning access to
and exploitation of some of the resources. The following
alternative livelihood activities were identified as
environmentally sustainable and should be promoted:
Tree nursery, vegetable growing in greenhouses, bee
keeping, fish farming, and construction of terraces.
Awareness creation on the importance of these dryland
wetlands, a multi stakeholder participatory process to
form a local water resource users association (WRUA)
and implement a ‘sub catchment’ management plan are
necessary to safeguard the wetland and minimize future
conflicts.
Wildlife Conservation Challenges in Okomu National
Park, Nigeria
*Olaleru, F. and Egonmwan, R.I.
Natural Resources Conservation Unit, Department of
Zoology, University of Lagos, Nigeria
*Email for correspondence: olalerufat@yahoo.com;
folaleru@unilag.edu.ng
Abstract
Okomu National Park, Nigeria became one in 1999. It is
a rainforest ecosystem that was gazetted from the
former Okomu Forest Reserve. The Park is known for its
endemic white-throated monkey (Cercopithecus
erythrogaster) and rare red-capped mangabey
(Cercocebus torquatus) and a host of other forest
mammals, some of which are endangered. Since its
inception the area has been encroached for reasons that
need to be studied. This study looked at the challenges
of conserving the Park’s wildlife and other resources. A
Likert scale questionnaire was used to obtain primary
data, while the Park’s record of arrests and prosecution
from 1999 to 2011 was used as secondary data.
Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the result.
Eighty eight people responded to the questionnaire.
84.4% agreed that wildlife are nature’s gift to man.
62.2% and 91.1% agreed that people hunted for
subsistence and commercial reasons respectively. Wild
animals could only be conserved if their habitats were
protected was the agreement of 84% respondents.
Poor maintenance and management of protected areas
could lead to loss of wildlife was the opinion of 91.1% of
the respondents. There were a total of 244 arrests
during the period. The highest encroachment (15%) was
in the first year, with farming taking the lead (67%).
Hunting (poaching) and farming were the most common
offences (29% each), followed by logging (19%), entry
(8%) and collection of non timber forest products (7%).
The most disturbed areas were those compartments
around the Park edges. Park staff could be more
committed to protecting the resources when they are
catered for appropriately. Creation of buffer zone could
reduce Park’s encroachment rate.
Keywords: Wildlife, Encroachment, Conservation
Keywords: ‘Dryland wetland’, Mikuyuni, arid and semi
arid lands (ASALs), Livelihood, participatory process.
TAAG First African Student’s Conference, Nairobi. 2-4 July, 2013 31