Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Drought among Agro-pastoral Farmers: Opportunities and Constraints in Nakasongola District, Central Uganda
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Environmental Management and Sustainable Development
Abstract
Understanding the context and importance of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) by
agro-pastoralists is important for building climate resilient social and ecological systems
amidst the changing climate. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to examine the EbA to
drought by the smallholder farmers in Nakasongola District where a total of 100 respondents
were randomly selected and subjected to interviews. To supplement on this information, a
land use/cover spatial dataset of 2016 for Uganda was obtained and analysed to characterise
and quantify the distribution of ecosystems utilised by the agro-pastoralists in the District.
The spatial results revealed that the grassland (1524.6sq.km) and agricultural (agroecosystem)
(779.1sq.km) ecosystems were the largest ecosystems followed by the forest/woodland and
freshwater ecosystems in terms of coverage. The farmers perceived severe droughts to occur
between December to January for the last 30 years with an average of 4 years return period. The agro and grassland ecosystems were the main contributors of drought adaptation
opportunities compared to the freshwater and forest/woodland ecosystems. The direct and
indirect opportunities involved goods and services such as water provision, mulching
materials, food provision, fuelwood, regulation of air quality and water flow. However, the
major constraints to EbA included rampant deforestation, limited knowledge on ecosystem
conservation and overgrazing. Thus increasing water supplies for domestic and agricultural
production is more likely increase the farmer’s adaptation to drought
Description
Keywords
Drought, Ecosystem-based adaptation, Spatial distribution, Agro-pastoralists
Citation
Mfitumukiza, D., Barasa, B., & Emmanuel, N. (2017). Ecosystem-based adaptation to drought among agro-pastoral farmers: opportunities and constraints in nakasongola district, central Uganda. Environ. Manag. Sustain. Dev, 6(2), 31-50. https://doi.org/10.5296/emsd.v6i2.11132