Abstract:
The Study was about community valuation of wetland resources and their conservation a case of Namasagali Sub County in Kamuli District. The objectives of the study were to: assess the socio economic contribution of the wetland resources to the community of Namasagali Sub County, find out how value is attached to the wetlands by the community through the use of the production factor method for future benefits of the wetland resources; evaluate the level of conservation efforts on the resources by the community, recommend strategies for community involvement in wetland conservation. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative study designs where the qualitative study design enabled the study to identify variables used and the quantitative study design was used quantifying variables like incomes of the people. Field surveys were carried out in four parishes of Kisaikye, Kasozi Bwiza and Namasagali. A sample size of 60 respondents was selected and interviewed with 15 respondents from each parish to avoid bias in the research. To enable data collection, well designed questionnaires were presented for respondents to fill in and give their opinions towards the study where after data was checked, edited and coded. It was then entered in Micro soft Excel where different analysis was made.
The findings of the study included; identifying the major wetlands in Namasagali Sub county and these included wetlands like; Nalwekomba wetland located to the south of Kamuli Namasagali road from eastern Butansi sub county, with a seasonal river flowing northwest past Namasagali downwards to River Nile. Kisaikye wetland located within Kisaikye Parish, Buwampasa wetland located in Kasozi Parish and Kakindu wetland located in the southern part of Bwiza Parish. People depend a lot on agriculture, Livestock keeping and harvesting of forest products such as wood for charcoal burning and Some fishing is also done in the seasonal river such as that one found in the Nalwekomba wetland. It was also revealed that very few people attached value, to the wetland resources as wetlands were regarded as waste lands therefore the level of conservation efforts for the wetland resources was very low. However, number of strategies starting from the grass root level to tbc higher level were being established to address the issue of not using the wetlands sustainably. The study therefore recommends the development of land use and management plans in order to enhance the use of wetland resources in the study area and in other parts of the country in a sustainable way.
