An assessment of community willingness to relocate from wetland resource; the case of Kabobo wetland in Igorora town council Ibanda district.

Abstract

The study conducted on assessment of community willingness to relocate from wetland resource; the case of Kabobo wetland in Igorora town council Ibanda district south western part of Uganda. The main objective was to assess the willingness of the community to relocate from Kabobo wetland in Igorora town council Ibanda district south western part of Uganda specifically; to find out the value community attach to the wetland resource, to establish the shifting options for sustainable wetland resource use by dependent households and to establish the willingness of the community to accept the shifting options. Research questions included: How does the community value the wetland resource? What are the shifting options available sustainable wetland resource use by dependant 'households? Is the community willing to accept the shifting options available? And what is the best and acceptable community option for the. use of the Wetland? The study composed of a sample of 120 respondents. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information on the wetland; this involved interviewing local people living near and using wetland and the Local Government officials at ITC and IDLG officials. The methods of analysis that were used included: tabular analysis which involved computation of percentages and frequencies including pie charts and bar charts of the analysed data in excel and SPS (version 16) software, The findings of the study show that the shifting options recommended by the authority (figure 4.11) tend to be more environmentally friendly compared to some of' those which individuals are considering by themselves (figure 4.10). According to the findings the activities which respondents are considering to undertake by themselves include the following; small scale enterprise 37.84%, modern farming 25.68%, boda boda 14.86%, charcoal burning 1.35%, coffee processing 1.36% construction 4.05% poultry 14.86 0/o while the various. alternatives were recommended by the authority and respondents acceptance. towards this alternatives varied as follows; small scale enterprise 39.13%, modern farming which improve yields outside the wetland 13.04%, boda boda riding 8.70% previous activities outside the wetland: 23.91% and 15.22% of the respondents did not accept any alternative recommended by the authority.