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Environmental Threat in Kisii As Wetland Resources Decrease
- Details
- Published on Monday, 02 July 2007 02:06
Entitled "Degradation of Wetland Ecosystems and its Implications on the Environment: A Case Study of Kisii District, Western Kenya", the report paints a grim picture of the once high economic potential district. The lead researcher, is Dr John Mironga who attributes severe environmental problems that are commonly observed in the area to the effects of hydrological and terrestrial degradation processes due to increased human activities.
The study observes that 35 years ago, families in Kisii had an average of ten acres of farming land. But today, most families have an average of half an acre. Many of the families have been forced to settle in less favourable areas that are ecologically sensitive sites. These areas include the wetlands, steep slopes and riverine areas. Even these areas are becoming vastly overcrowded resulting in severe degradation of the environment. To accommodate the burgeoning populace, many of Kisii district's wetlands have made way to residential layouts and urban centres. This has also contributed to deteriorating water quality and significant change in local climate.
Dr Mironga warns that if this trend goes on unchecked, many indigenous forests, vegetation and animals of value will become rare or extinct. "The destruction of some animals and plant species will mean disruption of the functional relationships between the people and their physical environment. The food chains through which energy flows in the ecosystem and the biogeochemical cycles that are essential to life will be affected by those disruptions," says Mironga.
"In spite of the awareness created by these international organisations, wetland conversion continues in most parts of Kisii, like in the rest of the country because of a strong combination of demographic and economic factors, explains Mironga.
Other causes cited include poor institutional arrangements, deficiency in legislation, lack of a wetland policy, or an effective mechanism for the enforcement of laws related to the protection of wetlands. As a result, stream bank cultivation, brick making, introduction of alien species, release of toxic effluent and toxic wastes continues to degrade wetlands.
The district is predominantly rural and agricultural. About 77 per cent of the land is suitable for agriculture. The once abundant wetlands in the district, now there are only few remnants. The extensive draining of wetlands for agricultural and settlement purposes accounts for most of the losses.
It is noted that in Kisii, wetland resources as well as their attributes and functions contribute to the socio-economic development of the local communities. About 60 per cent of the people rear livestock (cattle, sheep and goats). The locals have established traditional links with wetlands that provide specific products and services.
Wetlands are valuable for subsistence agriculture both directly and indirectly. The presence of water during the dry season permits irrigation of food crops and horticultural crops. Then reclaimed marshes and floodplains is moist and fertile and permits flood-recession agriculture. Nutrients are replenished by silt brought by floodwaters. Wetland dependent agriculture, primarily for the production of vegetables and fruits, is common in all the areas in the district with wetlands. Food crops from those areas are consumed locally while the surplus is marketed in other towns such as Kisumu.
The wetlands are fertile and this has attracted many people to carry intensive agriculture. Crops such as maize, sugarcane, potatos are doing well in wetland areas. This has resulted in over cultivation of the wetlands due to desire for high yields, hence high rate of their degradation. Repeated cultivation of these areas has also led to soil exhaustion and soil erosion.
The drainage of wetlands represents one of the most significant and widespread threats to their effective preservation. Amongst the landowners surveyed in Kisii district, drainage of wetlands on the landholding had been carried out by 70 per cent of the landowners. Drainage had been carried out in order to create room for expansion of agriculture and the "conversion of wasteland". But this situation has had serious effects on the water table of the area affected and consequently most wells and streams of the areas have dried up.
The study also established that there has been a major change in climate regimes especially in relation to rainfall totals. This is because wetland reclamation directly affects the rate of evapotranspiration, a process that adds water to the atmosphere. This partly explains why areas formerly occupied by wetlands used to be among the coldest parts of Kisii district but they are gradually becoming warmer.
Also posing a serious threat to wetlands is brick making business. Brick making leaves behind huge ditches from which clay and mud have been dug. This greatly hinders movement and communication in the affected areas. Since the process of brick-making requires firewood, many areas around the wetlands are cleared for this purpose. Natural fires and those started by those involved in brick making business continue to destroy most of the wetland areas. During dry seasons because of high temperatures, there are many fire outbreaks in the papyrus swamps.
Loss of fertility is another environmental cost of brick making. It is estimated that brick making in Kisii district uses approximately 5,000 hectares of fertile land annually.
Studies have shown that concentration of essential nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium are very low in the fields that have been used by the brick industry. This means that with time, production of crops will drop drastically forcing farmers to use fertilisers to improve the soil, causing further environmental problems.
Brick making in some parts of Kisii has brought with it significant health problems because the industry is using poor quality fuel and inefficient technology. The population of papyrus endemics, such as the Papyrus Yellow Warbler and Papyrus Gonolek, have been going down due to over-harvesting of papyrus beds for basketry or burned or cleared to pave way for agriculture. Removal of trees along the shoreline of wetlands and along river valleys eliminates suitable perches for African fish eagles, long-tailed cormorants, kingfishers and other water-associated birds. Most of the small trading centres have been raided by birds, which earlier had their homes in the surrounding wetlands. When these areas were destroyed, the birds turned to the trading centres and now live on top of buildings. They also have their nests in trees along the streets and constantly litter the streets. Most of the birds that once used to be common in the area are now threatened by changes brought by human activities.
