Browsing by Author "Abdi, Naima"

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    Implication of forest management on Lake Babati wetland, Babati district, Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2014) Abdi, Naima
    This work has investigated impact of forest management on Lake Babati wetland by studying variations of the forest cover around Lake Babati as well as identifying forest related activities and their implications. Several methodological approaches were employed in this research including remote sensing and GIS, key informant interviews, FGD, household interviews, measuring depth of the lake, and field observations. Findings from this study showed that before establishment of the PFM arrangements the Duru-Haitemba and Ufiome forest reserves, were heavily degraded. This was mainly due to the influx of people who established their settlements in the 1970s, especially during villagisation period. People opened agricultural fields and grazing lands at the expense of the natural environment. That process activated degradation such as through deforestation, loss of fertility, soil erosion, and formation gullies. Lake Babati suffered greatly from silt deposition brought from upper catchments by water runoffs during rainy seasons. Various initiatives that were initiated to solve the problem, such as the Land Management Programme (LAMP), emphasised on improved agricultural practices, agroforestry and tree planting which have improved environmental conditions. Livelihood activities are among the major causes of lake deterioration because as people are trying to make out a livelihood, they have been constantly encroaching the lake wetland. Poor agricultural practices and grazing on the wetland have contributed to soil erosion and subsequent siltation of the lake area. Changes in climatic conditions are another reason which has contributed to the degradation of the lake. Temperature has increased by 1.2°C over the last thirty years. The shallow depth of the lake and the increased temperature make evaporation to be more effective causing the lake to shrink. Consequently, as the lake shrinks communities continue to expand their farms towards the lake which cause more erosion, more soil deposition and the depth of the lake getting shallower. In order to save the remaining lake it is recommended that environmental, forest and water resource management regulations should be enforced, community participation in water management should be strengthened, and tree planting should be enhanced. It is also recommended that weather stations should be established in the neighbourhoods of the lake in order to facilitate further studies on effect of climatic change on the lake and its environment.