Livelihood assessment and its implication on the state of the natural environment :

Abstract

This study was carried out on livelihood assessment and its implication on the natural environment using the case study of Namasagali Sub County, Kamuli district on selected households in the parishes. The problem to be studied indicates that at the present situation, the livelihoods of the people largely depend on the natural environment which has led to its state to decline. In general, the objectives of the study were to establish the living condition of the people of Namasagali sub county in terms of the basic service, to find out the most popular way in which the people of Namasagali. earn their living, to find out the relationship between. livelihood and the state of the natural environment and to strategies that can be used to improve the livelihood of the people of Namasagali sub county. A cross sectional survey was carried out which involved use of questionnaires covering 50 respondents, Data collected was analyzed using SPSS which facilitated the formation of frequency tables, graphs, pie charts and cross tabulations. The research findings with respect to the above objectives indicated that living condition of the people in relation to the basic service was relatively low this is because 64% of the respondent live far away from financial services at about 20km, 68% of the schools are of poor quality basing on the performance, 62% of the respondent perceive quality of the health services to be of poor quality, 52% of the respondent to consider the quality of the water to be poor 76% of the respondents earn their living through farming, 8% through fishing, 10% business, 2% charcoal burning and 4% employment, 48% of the respondents believe that the quality of the natural resources are reducing because of factors such as Deforestation, poverty among people, increased population and farming. 50% of the respondent gave strategies such as serious monitoring, supply of enough drugs and classicist material, recruiting qualified teachers and nurses, and finally extending financial service nearer to the people. The study concludes that the basic services are poor, the most popular way of earning a living is farming, livelihood depend on the natural environment and leads to the state of the natural environment to decline. Thus the researcher recommends community should be sensitized on sustainable use of the natural environment and government should work had to improve people’s livelihood.