This paper has examined the current state of terrestrial biodiversity in Witu area and its surroundings in Lamu County, Kenya. The report covers a synthesis of threats, and current management interventions in place. Overall, the survey has found that the cross-border area of north-eastern Kenya and southern Somalia are highly diverse and threatened biodiversity areas. This is illustrated by the high concentration of endemic species (approximately 550 plant, six mammal and nine bird species), not to mention more arthropod species. It is also relatively underdeveloped with high incidences of poverty and consequently significant pressure on ecosystem services from local communities. The most important single source of pressure on the ecosystem is from the extraction of wood from forests. There is a long-standing dependence on wood for construction of houses, boats, and manufacture of furniture and domestic fittings, which require harvesting of large old tree species. As a result of this, several forest specialist species, such as the wood owl, crowned eagle and straw-coloured fruit bat are threatened, despite not being directly targeted by any of the forest users. These threats to the ecosystem are exacerbated by its cross-border area of north-eastern Kenya and southern Somalia. The final key challenge is the rapid development of infrastructure under Kenya’s Vision 2030 initiative. In light of these challenges, the IGAD BMP project implemented a number of interventions to create and strengthen ecosystem co-management between statutory and civil society agencies in Kenya and Somalia, respectively. Under Kenya’s Vision 2030, this area is targeted for several development initiatives in the energy, mineral and transport sectors. It is therefore expected to be a crucial component that must precede the planning process. This study recommends upscaling of the current conservation, management and education efforts, as well as improvement of the local communities’ capacity to manage natural resources and development processes for sustainable implementation and management of the same.
Tag: forest ecosystem
Flexible local ecological knowledge surveillance indicators reveal long-term change in the Yangambi wildmeat system
Conservation and management in Indigenous hunting systems requires an understanding of social-ecological change. We present the Flexible Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicators (FLEKSI) framework, which uses standardized questionnaires to derive time series of semi-quantitative LEK state indicators that can support ecosystem-based management. We applied FLEKSI in the Weko hunting territory of the Yangambi landscape, Democratic Republic of Congo. The aim was to capture Indigenous and local knowledge of how the wildmeat system has changed during the living memory of participating hunters. Most respondents believed that larger target species have become less abundant and more wary over the last 30 years, while the local wildmeat market has grown. Perceived declines in animal populations contrasted with the view that the broader forest ecosystem remains relatively unchanged. The FLEKSI descriptors and indicator questions can be readily tailored for a given social-ecological system, with potential for general application in data-limited hunting and fishing systems.
Land Use Preference for Ecosystem Services and Well-Being in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
Researchers increasingly investigate ecosystem services to assess their role in supporting livelihoods, well-being and economic value in order to inform decision-making. Many studies have explored links between ecosystem services and community-based livelihoods, with a very narrow focus on the importance of land use to well-being. We evaluated the value of ecosystem services from various land uses supporting livelihoods and the overall well-being of local communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. By applying a participatory habitat valuation approach with the ethnic communities from eight villages, we explored their preferences for, and perceptions of, ecosystem services and their sources in a multi-functional landscape under different land use, i.e., forest, swidden and low-land agriculture, fruit orchard and water bodies, and three land ownership contexts (state, private and mixed ownership on forest lands). Our findings revealed that community land use preference for ecosystem services supports ten different well-being needs. Among others, forests were valued land used for two-thirds of well-being needs, including the provision of shelter, nutrition, primary health care, an adequate supply of potable water, a lower level of ecological stress (i.e., protection from associated landslide soil erosion), cultural and spiritual benefits and livestock foraging. People commonly valued the food, income and nutrition contributions of all land uses. However, different forest and land ownership contexts and rights within the landscape influence people’s preference for ecosystem services from land use in supporting their well-being. People with secure ownership (i.e., private and private-community) showed a broad and positive appreciation for ecosystem services to meet their well-being needs. Our study highlights that local and ethnic people’s land-use preferences and ownership contexts are critical factors in assessing well-being in the context of multifunctional landscapes. We recommend that ecosystem services be considered in future decision-making related to forest and land use to support human well-being.