dc.description.abstract |
This study takes a spatial approach aimed at illuminating the extent of environmental change
driven by livelihood diversification and resource use, and identifying factors that influence
livelihood security of households in agro-silvo-fishery settlements around Lake Victoria,
Western Kenya, in the context of a new resource co-management regime introduced in the
2000s that may impact on resource access and livelihood strategies of the people. In the
recent past the resources of Lake Victoria have come under severe pressure due to a variety
of economic and ecological factors associated with over-fishing and a significant decline in
fish species. Farming increased in importance as households attempt to meet subsistence
needs, but land fragmentation, drought and low investment have led to poor crop yields. The
compounded effect to the smallholders has led to increased forest resource dependency
which in turn has been met by government regulations aimed at conserving the forested
area. The end result is a vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation. The
following is a discussion based on a preliminary field research in Sindo and its environs, the
former Suba District, Nyanza Province. A spatial approach is adopted as a methodological
exemplifier first to obtain a sample of households from different zones of the natural
resource system encompassing Lake Victoria and Gwassi Hills Forest and secondly to
examine spatial enablement and/or constraint of how resource access and use is by
households located in the different zones. The study revealed that households engaged in
various economic activities classified into five sectors namely: Agriculture, fishery, livestock,
forest product extraction, and non-farm activities whereby a household comparatively
engaged or specialized in one dominant sector/activity which contributes significantly to the
household economy and the other sectors/activities playing a secondary role. The livelihood
options for the people are less, with the consequence of their increasing vulnerability to
various economic shocks. Contrary to some expectations set by the existing literature,
farming households located in the interior zones were increasingly separated from fishing,
possibly due to overfishing and the general shift from inshore to offshore fisheries, and to the
increasing fishing cost: only those with sufficient capital can go offshore to fish. In contrast to
the case of fishing, resources in the forest reserve adjacent to their settlements were widely
used for firewood and fodder regardless of the zones from the lake shore. This was with no
communal nor co- management except occasional community policing, facing environmental
degradation. On the basis of these findings, the study argues for place-based analysis at
both household-level and local-levels in enhancing understanding of local-level decisions in
adoption of different livelihood strategies and management of natural resources in the face
of changing economic and environmental conditions. In order to attain livelihood security in
the study area, this paper argues that future development strategies need to enhance the
sustainability of the resources of both the lake and land, and possibly build upon traditional
management methods and institutions. |
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