Settlement Schemes and their Implication on Eastern Mau Water Catchment, Kenya
Abstract
Settlement schemes are aimed at settling landless people and those displaced by disasters to support socio-economic and environmental development of a country. Eastern Mau Forest Reserve is an important water catchment that has settlement schemes established, which has led to encroachments and degradation of the catchment. This paper, therefore, assesses the implications of human settlements on Eastern Mau water catchment by examining the trends in land use/cover change and river flows for four decades. Primary data was collected from key informant interviews based on purposive sampling whereas secondary data was derived from Landsat satellite images over a 10-year period and analysed using Maximum Likelihood Function from ArcGIS. Data on river flows from River Njoro was obtained from Water Resources Authority Office in Nakuru. Rainfall and temperature data were obtained from Kenya Meteorological Station in Nakuru. Time series analysis is used to understand the trend in river flows over time while Pearson correlation is used to determine relationship between farmlands and river flows. The results indicate a sharp decline in forest cover by 42.7% and an increase in farmlands by 41%. Dense vegetation and farmlands have an inverse relationship as an increase in farmlands lead to a decrease in forest cover. People have settled beyond the established settlement schemes boundaries leading to encroachment and drying up of some rivers. There is also an increase in rainfall and river flows over the years, with monthly river flows increasing in peak flows and declining during low seasons. There is a positive correlation between farmlands and river flows between 1989 and 2020. There is need for regeneration of encroached areas and defining boundary of Eastern Mau to allow initiatives and interventions that help with sustainable management of the catchment area.
Downloads
References
Alamgir, M., Campbell, M. J., Sloan, S., Engert, J., Word, J., & Laurance, W. F. (2020). Emerging challenges for sustainable development and forest conservation in Sarawak, Borneo. PloS one, 15(3), e0229614.
Boone, C. (2012). Land conflict and distributive politics in Kenya. African Studies Review, 55(1), 75-103.
Chaudhry, S. (2019). Politics of land excisions and climate change in the Mau Forest Complex: A case study of the South-Western Mau Forest. Journal of Sustainability, Environment and Peace, 1(2), 52-62.
FAO. (2017). Watershed management in action: Lessons learned from FAO field projects. New York: Food and Agriculture Organization.
Gills, B., & Morgan, J. (2020). Global climate emergency: After COP24, climate science, urgency, and the threat to humanity.
Guzha, A. C., Rufino, M. C., Okoth, S., Jacobs, S., & Nóbrega, R. L. B. (2018). Impacts of land use and land cover change on surface runoff, discharge and low flows: Evidence from East Africa. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 15, 49-67.
Human Rights Watch (2020). Kenya: Mau Forest Evictees' Plight Intensifies.
Jorge, M. G., & Julio, J. D. (2012). Sustainable Forest Management: An Introduction and Overview: InTech.
Kibuba, F., & Jenkins, M. (2005). Managing the River Njoro Watershed, Kenya: Conflicting laws, policies, and Community Priorities.
Kimaru, A. N., Gathenya, J. M., & Cheruiyot, C. K. (2019). The temporal variability of rainfall and streamflow into lake Nakuru, Kenya, assessed using SWAT and hydrometeorological indices. Hydrology, 6(4), 88.
Klopp, J. (2012). Deforestation and Democratization: Patronage, Politics and Forests in Kenya. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 6(2), 351-370.
Kweyu, R., Kiemo, K., Thenya, T., Emborg, J., & Gamborg, C. (2019). Spatial and Political Factors in Forest Resource Conflicts: The Eastern Mau Forest Case 1992–2014. Society & Natural Resources, 32(11), 1276-1292.
KWTA (2017). Kenya Water Towers Status Report. Nairobi: Kenya Water Towers Agency.
Lopez, D., & Jason, B. (2013). Deforestation Drivers: Population, Migration and Tropical Land Use. Environment, 55(1), 1-18.
Mainuri, Z. G. (2018). Impact of Human Settlement on Land Use/Land Cover Changes in the Middle River Njoro Sub Watershed in Kenya. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(4), 180-188.
Masuma, C., & Adullah, A.-M. (2020). Land Use/ Land Cover Change Assessment of Halda Watershed Using Remote Sensing and GIS. The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, 23(1), 63-75.
Ndubi, A. O. (2018). Using land cover change to predict forest degradation pressure points, Eastern Mau Forest, Kenya. International Letters of Natural Sciences, 71.
Njuguna, P., Mbegera, M., & Mbithi, D. (1999). Reconaisance Survey of Forest Blocks in the West and East of the Rift Valley.
Olang, L. O., & Kundu, P. M. (2011). Land degradation of the Mau forest complex in Eastern Africa: a review for management and restoration planning (Vol. 528). In-Tech.
Prăvălie, R. (2018). Major perturbations in the Earth's forest ecosystems. Possible implications for global warming. Earth-Science Reviews, 185, 544-571.
RoK (2004a). Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal/Irregular Allocation of Public Land: Annexe Volume II.
RoK (2004b). Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal/Irregular Allocation of Public Land: Annexes Volume I.
RoK (2012). Kenya Gazette No. 27. (2012). Nairobi
RoK (2018). A Report on Forest Resources Management and Logging Activities in Kenya.
Sauer, S. (2018). Soy expansion into the agricultural frontiers of the Brazilian Amazon: The agribusiness economy and its social and environmental conflicts. Land Use Policy, 79, 326-338.
UNESCO (2014). International Hydrological Programme VIII: Water Security Responses to Local, Regional and Global Challenges. Paris, France: UNESCO Division of Water Sciences.
Xie, Y., Bie, Q., & He, C. (2017). Human settlement and changes in the distribution of river systems in the Minqin Basin over the past 2000 years in Northwest China. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 3(11), 1401011.
Yang, S., Zhao, W., Liu, Y., Wang, S., Wang, J., & Zhai, R. (2018). Influence of land use change on the ecosystem service trade-offs in the ecological restoration area: Dynamics and scenarios in the Yanhe watershed, China. Science of the total environment, 644, 556-566.
Copyright (c) 2021 Fredah Cherotich, Sammy Letema
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
