Livelihoods in the wetlands of Kilombero Valley in Tanzania: Opportunities and challenges to integrated water resource management

The findings show that Kilombero Valley has high potential for a diversity of livelihood activities. The wetland also serves as a source of water for farming, livestock, fishing and for domestic uses. Over the last two decades the use of wetlands for agriculture has increased because of increasing population of both pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, and hence the resultant need to produce more food. However, there are environmental concerns associated with increasing use of wetlands for agriculture and other livelihood activities, including deforestation and trampling of soils by increasing livestock numbers, increased demand on the water resources and lack of elaborate institutional framework to facilitate the integration of the various sectoral and cross-sectoral uses of the wetland resources and among stakeholders. The main conclusion is that sustainable livelihood development of wetland communities requires multidisciplinary and integrated efforts in addressing constraints in the various sectors such as agriculture, natural vegetation use, water resources and fishing.