WETLAND CHANGE, SOCIO – ECONOMIC FACTORS AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES THE CASE OF GOFER MEDA WETLAND, HOSANNA TOWN, HADIYA ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

Wetlands play an important role in sustaining human, plant and animal life. They balance climatic and hydrology cycle to our environment. However, wetlands have been decreased both in time and space. This in turn narrowed the opportunities of wetland services. Thus the objective of this study was to assess wetland degradation, socio-economic factors and management strategies in Hosanna town. Three sets of Landsat satellite imageries for the years of 2000, 2010 and 2019 were used to produce land cover maps and quantify the land use and land cover change. Moreover; observation, structured questionnaire, key informants interview and focus group discussions were used to supplement remotely sensed satellite data. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed. Primary and secondary data were employed. The total household selected for this study were 177 household heads residing in the town. Therefore, for this study the sample size is 13% of the total household heads. The land cover analysis showed that wetland are reduced from the year 2000 to 2019.Overgrazing, urbanization, waste dumping, and rapid population growth were the key driving forces of wetland changes. In this regard, the shrinkage of the wetland caused prevailing conflict between farmers and people around as both of them need wetland for different purposes. As they are more dependent on the wetland resources. The study also showed that wetland degradation has controversial effects. Consequently, the socio-economic service of the wetland has been diminished at an alarming rate. Therefore, the government and other stakeholders should intervene by providing appropriate wetland management practices, awareness creation, providing community based continuous training and education on wetland conservation.