Small man-made reservouirs and the future of integrated watershed management in Kenya., Hekima Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (2(1):67-79

Abstract

The development,conservation and management of natural resources in most watersheds of Kenya is characterised by both geographical and administrative fragmentation.The cause of the fragmentation is twofold.Firstly is the failure to effectively address the issue of environmental and socio-economic intergration between downstream lacustrine ecosystems and upstream catchment environments.Secondly is the lack of good opportunities for all stakeholders to participate in the allocation and utilisation of natural resources.It is common knowledge that catchments are the powerhouses of most natural processes and they ultimately determine the direction of environmental change in rivers,lakes and floodplains.At the same time almost everyone lives within a watershed and should be involved n watershed management.But a common shortcoming in the the management of many important watersheds is the lack of well-defined strategies to involve catchment communities in long-term conservation programs.The aim of this paper is to show how small man-made reservoirs in watersheds provide a common and unifying ground from which rural community-based conservation and environmental rehabilitation programmes can be launched and sustained.