Land cover, land use change and related issues in the Lake Victoria basin: States, drivers, future trends and impacts on environment and human livelihoods.
Average rating
Cast your vote
You can rate an item by clicking the amount of stars they wish to award to this item.
When enough users have cast their vote on this item, the average rating will also be shown.
Star rating
Your vote was cast
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Author
Ochola, W.O.Date
2006
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Land is a critical resource for the survival of the over 25 million inhabitants of the Lake Victoria basin in which agriculture contributes immensely to local and national economies. The steady decline in per capital land holding and escalating land degradation are posing serious concerns to food security and environmental integrity thus threatening economic, social and physical survival in the lake region now and in the future. The key land degradation issues addressed in this paper include escalating soil erosion, declining soil fertility, agro-chemical pollution, salinization and loss of land cover. Using the following driving force framework, that is, pressures-states-impact-response (DPSIR), the paper presents a synthesis of the state of land use and land degradation in the basin, their causes and impacts on human and environmental security. The paper notes that protecting the land quality for the benefit of people is a major challenge in the basin and that the dilemma in sustainable land management in the basin is that land use changes needed to promote the survival of society in the long-term are at crossroads with what is essential to the survival of the population in the short term. An analysis of future scenarios of the Lake Victoria land resources and land use change is presented based on plausible futures through long-term interactions between economic development and environment with a reflection on the future state of available arable land in 2025. The social, biophysical and institutional mitigations measures proposed are based on these interactions.Page Range
pp.43-60Title of Parent Book or Report
Environment for Development: An Ecosystems Assessment of Lake Victoria Basin.Publisher or University
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Pan African START Secretariat (PASS)Collections