The Value of Consumptive Goods and Services of Nyando Wetland.

Wetlands provide a range of goods and services and possess a variety of attributes of value to society. They offer provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services that generate economic value from their direct, indirect or potential use. Despite legislation designed to protect wetlands, they continue to be degraded and lost at an alarming rate. This is partly because of lack of understanding of their ecological and socioeconomic importance, which leads to distorted policy and decision making regarding their use and management. The value of a wetland can be partly assessed in terms of the direct use of its resources for the satisfaction of human needs. In the Nyando River Basin, many wetlands have been lost or degraded as a result of increasing demands for land and water. An understanding of the socioeconomic value of the wetlands is crucial when deciding on conservation and development priorities related to land use and the allocation of finite resources. Therefore, the value of the natural resources that wetlands provide to communities is a critical consideration. This chapter provides such knowledge, which would enable policy makers to set up appropriate wetland conservation programmes at the community level in Nyando and other related wetlands in the Lake Victoria Basin. It highlights the key direct consumptive wetland goods and services, estimates the value of direct consumptive use and investigates the determinants of the direct consumptive value of the resources in the Nyando Wetland.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Raburu, P. O., Onyango, F.O., Obiero, K.O.
Other Authors:	Raburu, P.O.
Format:	Book Section biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Kenya Disaster Concern - VIRED - UNDP 2012
Subjects:	Wetlands, Resource conservation, Resource management,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/1834/7775
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