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Vulnerability, livelihood assets and institutional dynamics in the management of wetlands in Lake Victoria watershed basin

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Abstract

This paper uses data from 600 households in the Lake Victoria watershed in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda to analyze the effects of vulnerabilities and shocks on the management and exploitation of wetlands within the context of agricultural activities and high poverty levels. A multinomial logit model is used to determine variables that influence the perception of wetlands degradation, while a tobit model is used to establish the determinants of willingness to pay for wetland conservation and the imputed value of wetland product extracts. The model results show that although the perception of wetland degradation is modest, it is influenced by attributes of social capital. Variables such as floods, diseases and droughts significantly influence the households’ willingness to pay for wetland conservation. Land size and ownership, education level and household size all influence households’ likelihood to actively engage in wetland resource exploitation and willingness to pay for its conservation. The implications of these results hinge on measures that would moderate the effects of shocks, mobilize collective action, and improve physical infrastructure within the context of sustainable wetland resource use.

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Notes

  1. DfID-Department for International Development (2001). Sustainable livelihoods guidance sheets. www.livelihoods.org/info/info_guidanceSheets.html#6.

  2. The average transport costs are equivalent to one US dollar at the 2004 Kenyan shilling. For example, about 57% of the people in Kenya are considered to be poor and they live on less than one dollar a day.

  3. http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2868, accessed on 20th August 2008.

  4. http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-118958-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html, accessed on 20th August 2008.

  5. http://www.unisdr.org/africa/af-partners/docs/IGAD-vol4-disaster-risk-management-program.rtf, accessed on 20th August 2008.

  6. Flooding can be both a blessing and a curse at the same time; a blessing as individuals are able to access fish resources more easily and a curse because households are forced to migrate to high lying areas or grounds. It seems that the positive effects outweigh the negative effects of flooding.

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Acknowledgments

This research benefited from the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Inter-University Council for East Africa. Special thanks go to the Lake Victoria Research Initiative (VicRes) for the support during the fieldwork. We acknowledge the support that was provided by the University Managements of Egerton, Moi, Makerere and Dar es Salaam Universities. We acknowledge the very valuable comments and suggestions from two anonymous reviewers and those of the Editor-in-Chief. We also thank Felix Murithi of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research & Analysis (KIPPRA) for assisting with syntax, style and language in the draft manuscript. We are responsible for any errors of omission and commission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Agricultural Resource Management, Moi University, P.O. Box 3900, Eldoret, Kenya

    Samuel M. Mwakubo

  2. The Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research & Analysis (KIPPRA), P.O. Box 5445-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

    Samuel M. Mwakubo

  3. Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536, Njoro, Kenya

    Gideon A. Obare

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  1. Samuel M. Mwakubo
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Correspondence to Samuel M. Mwakubo.

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Mwakubo, S.M., Obare, G.A. Vulnerability, livelihood assets and institutional dynamics in the management of wetlands in Lake Victoria watershed basin. Wetlands Ecol Manage 17, 613–626 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-009-9138-6

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