Sustainable use of wetland soils in the eastern region of Uganda around Lake Victoria Basin

摘要

Wetlands are not wastelands but wealth lands, which are widely distributed throughout Uganda currentlyncovering 11% of the total land area. They are accessible to a large proportion of the population. As thencountry's population grows, people increasingly convert wetlands for other land uses such as farming,nsettlement among others thus making it difficult to enforce legislation for their protection, sustainablenmanagement and utilization. Their profound importance to both humans and wildlife calls for a concertedneffort to ensure their sustainable utilization and attempts should be made to promote sustainablendevelopment of such wetlands with adequate considerations being given to human and environmentalnrequirements. This study was therefore carried out to determine the effect of drainage on organic matternlevels and on soil chemical changes in wetland soils in eastern Uganda around the Lake Victoria basin.nSecondly, to assess potential lime requirements for drained wetland soils in eastern Uganda around the LakenVictoria basin, this would reflect on wetland soil buffering capacity. In green house studies it was found thatndrainage of wetland soils led to a reduction of organic matter relative to soil structure and where sulfur andniron were present in large amounts, drainage caused decrease in soil pH to moderately acidic levels; but inncases where exchangeable bases were present in large amounts there was an increase in soil pH. Limenrequirements were greater where the amount of clay, organic matter and cation exchange capacity werenhigh. Consequently, such wetland soils had a high buffering capacity. It was concluded that wetland soilsnshould be characterized in terms of potential of acidification, level of organic matter, nutrient content, cationnexchange capacity, soil texture and levels of trace elements. Decisions to drain or not to drain should dependnon these parameters and other socio-economic considerations for the area.