Abstract:
Local knowledge of the history and ecology of wetland ecosystems is very useful in wetland re-
sources management, especially when other historical ecological information is not available and
can be integrated with scientific knowledge to introduce better management of resources. The
aims of this paper were to assess existing local knowledge on land use/cover changes in the Ki-
lombero wetlands, thereafter investigate local knowledge on its effect on avian population in the
wetland and identify factors influencing local knowledge on such changes in the study area. Ran-
dom sampling was used to obtain representative sample population for this study. Structured
questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to extract information from local people in
six villages. Study results from multi-response analysis showed that natural forests had been con-
verted into cropland and bushed grassland, grassland to crop land, grassland to grazed land, for-
est to settlement and grassland to settlement. Land use change was singled out as primary cause of
decrease in avian community in the wetland. Threats to the conservation of avian species were
identified as livestock grazing, drought, use of poison, traps and bush meat hunting for food. Age
and education level were seen as determinants of household’s knowledge on the ecological
changes. This pool of existing knowledge is important among wetland users and stakeholders in
order to generate conservation strategies of the wetland ecosystem.
