Human activity killing Kenya’s Yala Swamp

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Kenya’s famed Yale Swamp, home to rare sitatunga or march antelope is under threat because of human activity.

The largest wetland in the Horn of Africa country with an area of 175 kilometers, is not only a natural filter for the waters that go into the River Nile from Lake Victoria but also home to several species of flora and fauna.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency coinciding the World Wetlands Day which is being observed on Wednesday, Lenon Otiko Omondi, a 53-year-old farmer who owns land near the Yale Swamp, said he has witnessed shirking of swamp over the years.

“This swamp is our life; it has watery patches with a lot of fish that we use not only to earn a living but for nutrition. The problem nowadays is everything is slowly disappearing. The swamp is still big but it has shrunk, it is nothing like 20 years ago,” he said.

He said some people were clearing the swamp to get land for large-scale farming, despite the government chasing them away.

“People backfill the recovered wetland area and construct buildings. Then a small shopping Centre comes up. The people need water, food, and a place where they can dump their waste,” said the farmer.

Over a quarter-million people who live around the swamp rely on resources such as water, medicine, firewood, and food from the ecosystem.

Patrick Ochieno, 53, who has been fishing on the swamp for over 20 years said the fish has almost vanished in the swamp.

He said the population around Yala has also increased, further threatening the swamp.

A visit to the area reveals that in some areas, the locals have altered the natural flow of water for either irrigation or water storage purposes.

Conservationists believe that these barriers and dams have a drastic effect on the ecosystem, as it affects native species of fauna and seasonal migrations of fish.

Moses Owilly Nyawasa, a researcher at Nature Kenya, one of Africa’s oldest environmental Societies, describes encroachment as one of the biggest threats to the Yala Swamp.

“We have people doing overfishing. We also have investors that are doing agriculture without control. We also have pollution taking place because people who do large-scale farming use chemicals,” he said.

He said the loss of habitat has affected the birds and the antelopes. The clearing of breeding areas for agriculture has affected fish.

The health of the Yale Swamp has also further endangered Sitatunga antelope. Scientists say that the hooves of this antelope are splayed because it can only thrive in muddy or swampy areas and is unable to walk on firm ground.