Browsing by Author "Benson M. Mwangi"

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    Threats of Land Use Changes on Wetland and Water Areas of Murang’a County, Kenya
    (Published by Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/aees-9-6-2, 2021) Benson M. Mwangi
    Globally, wetlands have declined in area by over 50% since 1900, due to changes in land-use patterns, converting them into farmlands, human settlements, urban centers, and infrastructure development. Land-use changes also impact negatively on the water area (streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and sea) of an area. In this study, the threats of land use changes on wetland and water areas in Murang’a County, Kenya, were assessed, in a bid to understand the main causes for the rapid decline in wetland and water areas in the County. Landsat images of 2001 and 2018 were analyzed using a supervised classification technique to produce Land-use maps in ArcGIS and detect associated changes. Between 2001 and 2018, the wetland area in Murang’a County declined by over 48% while the water area declined by over 25%. Bare-soil/built-up area posed the greatest threat to the conservation of wetlands in the County, taking up 161 ha of the wetland area during the period. The growth of woody shrubs posed the greatest threat to the loss of water areas taking up 152 ha of the water area during the period. Mean total threats facing wetlands differed significantly from mean total threats facing water areas in the County (t = 0.682; p<0.001). It is concluded that wetland and water areas are faced with similar human-induced land use threats but at varying magnitudes. It is therefore critical that specific regulatory legal and policy structures be urgently instituted to curtail further wetland and water area losses.
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    Wetland Degradation Status and Conservation Challenges in Murang’a County, Kenya
    (International Journal of Ecosystem, 2021) Benson M. Mwangi
    Unregulated human activities have resulted in massive degradation and eventual loss of wetlands despite their importance in providing various ecosystem services and habitat to important species of fauna and flora. In Murang’a County, Kenya, wetland degradation has increased at an alarming rate since the 1980s, with no data on their degradation status and challenges facing their conservation. This study aimed to examine the trend of wetland degradation and the main challenges impacting their conservation in Murang’a County between 1986 and 2018. The challenges were identified in a stakeholder workshop involving 39 key stakeholders and ranked in order of importance using the pair-wise ranking technique. Trends in wetland degradation status were assessed through analysis of land use maps obtained from Landsat images of 1986, 2001, and 2018. The most critical challenges affecting the conservation and management of wetlands in the County were inadequate legislation followed by poor planning, lack of community empowerment, scarce resources, corruption, encroachment, and pollution. Correlation analysis between wetland and water areas showed a significant but negative relationship at (P<0.01), indicating that decreasing wetland areas resulted in a significant reduction of water areas. The wetland area in the County decreased by about 48% between 2001 and 2018 and to arrest this trend of declining wetland area, the stakeholders recommended the amalgamation of all laws and policies touching on conservation and management of wetlands in the County. Further, there is a need for community involvement and empowerment to create awareness of the roles of wetlands for their well-being.