Ryken N., Vanmaercke M., Wanyama J., Isabirye M., Vanonckelen S., Deckers J., Poesen J.
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Department of Soil Management, Ghent University, Belgium; Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Makerere University, Uganda; Busitema University, Namasagali, Uganda
Ryken, N., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium, Department of Soil Management, Ghent University, Belgium; Vanmaercke, M., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium; Wanyama, J., Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Makerere University, Uganda; Isabirye, M., Busitema University, Namasagali, Uganda; Vanonckelen, S., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Deckers, J., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Poesen, J., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
During the past decades, land use change in the Lake Victoria basin has significantly increased the sediment fluxes to the lake. These sediments as well as their associated nutrients and pollutants affect the food and water security of millions of people in one of Africa's most densely populated regions. Adequate catchment management strategies, based on a thorough understanding of the factors controlling runoff and sediment discharge are therefore crucial. Nonetheless, studies on the magnitude and dynamics of runoff and sediment discharge are very scarce for the Lake Victoria basin and the African Rift region.We therefore conducted runoff discharge and sediment export measurements in the Upper Rwizi, a catchment in Southwest Uganda, which is representative for the Lake Victoria basin. Land use in this catchment is characterized by grazing area on the high plateaus, banana cropping on the slopes and Cyperus papyrus L. wetlands in the valley bottoms. Due to an increasing population pressure, these papyrus wetlands are currently encroached and transformed into pasture and cropland. Seven subcatchments (358km2-2120km2), with different degrees of wetland encroachment, were monitored during the hydrological year June 2009-May 2010.Our results indicate that, due to their strong buffering capacity, papyrus wetlands have a first-order control on runoff and sediment discharge. Subcatchments with intact wetlands have a slower rainfall-runoff response, smaller peak runoff discharges, lower rainfall-runoff ratios and significantly smaller suspended sediment concentrations. This is also reflected in the measured annual area-specific suspended sediment yields (SYs): subcatchments with encroached papyrus swamps have SY values that are about three times larger compared to catchments with intact papyrus vegetation (respectively 106-137tonkm-2y-1 versus 34-37tonkm-2y-1). We therefore argue that protecting and (where possible) rehabilitating these papyrus wetlands should be a corner stone of catchment management strategies in the Lake Victoria basin. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Catchments; Forestry; Lakes; Land use; Rain; Runoff; Stream flow; Suspended sediments; Vegetation; Water pollution; Wetlands; Gully; Riparian vegetation; Riverbank erosion; Suspended sediment yields; Uganda; Sediments; rain; runoff; gully erosion; riparian vegetation; river bank; runoff; sediment transport; sediment yield; spatiotemporal analysis; streamflow; suspended sediment; wetland; Article; banana; catchment; cropland; cropping system; Cyperus; Cyperus papyrus; environmental impact; environmental management; environmental monitoring; environmental protection; grazing; land use; pastureland; river basin; sediment transport; stream (river); swamp; Uganda; vegetation; wetland; East African Lakes; Lake Victoria; Uganda; Cyperus papyrus