Effects of seasonal flooding of Nalwekomba wetland on the people’s livelihood of Namasagali sub county, Kamuli district.

Abstract

The study focused on the effects of seasonal flooding on people’s livelihoods in Namasagali sub county kamuli district in villages of Kabaganda, kabanyoro and kaparaga. The study followed a case study design and employed simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques to get the data from the sample size of 60 respondents. Data was collected from respondents such as farmers, businessmen and fishermen of age 10-40 years and above using self-administered questionnaires digitized in Kobo collect. Data from kobo collect was exported to SPSS 20 for editing, coding and analysis. The study found out that the group of people who are mostly affected by seasonal floods were mainly children followed by women, men were discovered to be the least group of people affected by floods. This was due to gender roles of women such as managing households and caregiving thus increasing their vulnerabilities. The effects of seasonal flooding included destruction of infrastructure, destruction of crops, loss of lives, disruption of fishing activities and increased diseases such as typhoid, malaria bilharzia and cholera. The strategies to minimize the effects of seasonal flooding on people’s livelihoods were raising the road by putting the culverts, early planting of crops such that they reach harvesting time before heavy rain starts, creation of education and awareness about floods to people, provision of alternative source of income such as starting small scale businesses. The study concluded that strong measures should be put in place to reduce on the vulnerabilities caused by seasonal flooding on people’s livelihood. The study recommended full implementation of laws and rules regarding wetland management, education and sensitization of local people about climate change, development and maintenance of effective drainage systems to manage excess water and prevent flooding and encourage community-led flood response initiatives, including localized early warning systems and emergency response plans.