User:Mwasiti.rashid/Mara Wetland

=Value of the Mara Wetland=

Background information
The Mara Wetland is a riverine flood plain wetland located near Lake Victoria where the Mara River discharges its water into Lake Victoria. . The wetland is mainly fed by the Mara River, which has its source in the Kenyan Mau escarpment. The wetland covers about 100 km² and link Musoma and Rorya districts in the lower part and Tarime and Serengeti districts in the upper part.

Main Issues
The Mara Wetland like other wetlands is very important sources of natural resources and habitat to a variety of fauna and flora. The major fauna of the wetland include different types of fish, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and a variety of insects. On the part of flora a number of plant species are found the major ones being Cyperus papyrus (Matende/Matete) and Typha domingensis (Mabilimbili).The livelihood of the communities living around the wetland depends on various services provided by the wetland. The main social economic activities of the communities around the Mara Wetland are fishing and papyrus harvesting.



Over 80% of the populations in communities adjacent to the wetland are fishers who make their daily living from fishing activities. Although papyrus harvesting is among the major social economic activities of the community around the Mara Wetland, only 5% of the papyrus is harvested per year. Papyrus is normally used in making of different household commodities such as mats, baskets, placards, ceiling board, vegetable containers, lamp shade, pads and arm chairs.

The threats
Despite the importance of Mara wetland, there is high pressure from the community on the resources utilization and little understanding of the economic and biodiversity values of the wetland. Therefore protection of the wetland against biodiversity loss is crucial to improve the wetland health.

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