A Review on Ecosystem Services and their Threats in the Conservation of Nyando Wetland, Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

Wetlands are vital ecosystems as they are essential to human health, wellbeing, ecological integrity and national development as well as in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, despite their contributions to human wellbeing, they have been destroyed and degraded over years. The aim of this paper is to review literature on the ecosystem services in Nyando wetland ecosystem and how they have been helpful to the well-being of its residents and also to determine the threats to the Nyando ecosystem services. A total of 88 documents were reviewed out of 20,400 documents from the Google engine search. It is concluded in this paper that ecosystem services in the Nyando wetland contribute significantly to the sustenance of the livelihood of the local communities and that the over dependency on the Nyando wetland by the local communities has resulted to over-exploitation of its resources leading to the degradation of the ecosystem. It is recommended that since the Nyando ecosystem is of high value to the communities living there, sustainable utilization of its resources is important for its sustenance and also in the reduction of the degradation of its resources.

Keywords: Wetlands; ecosystem services; livelihoods; sustainability; conservation;