An economic analysis of the potential for protecting wetlands in Uganda: A case study of Goma Sub-County wetlands, Mukono District

Abstract

The study analyzed the economic potentials for protecting wetland in Uganda. This is a consequence of the realization that despite government efforts to ban further large scale exploitation of wetlands, their loss to unsustainable utilization activities is still experienced. This adamancy to continuous wetland exploitation has been blamed, by many studies to the fact that decision makers / actors in wetlands often perceive them to have little or no economic value and as such their conservation is always not seen as a serious alternative.

A null hypothesis was used to test the above scenario and the results revealed that decision makers were aquatinted with wetland economic values, especially those tangible goods that had direct use values and therefore traded in the open market.

This study therefore undertook an economic valuation study using the concept of Total Economic Value (TEV) that highlighted the wholistic economic value of the direct and indirect wetland benefits. This enumeration revealed that wetlands in Goma sub county yield a flow of economic benefits at their minimum estimated to be approximately Ushs 2.6 billion. / year, and therefore their sustainable management is critical.

The study identified three alternative decisions that would determine the fate of utilization or management of these wetlands. These included; strict protection, sustainable exploitation or a no change option of the status quo- unsustainable utilization. Through the cost benefit analysis, the study recommended that wetlands be sustainablys utilized, because this strategy would clearly balance economic preferences at the local level, with ecological attributes. All this would be done through the adoption of economic incentives and disincentives.