Institutional pluralism, access and use of wetland resources in the Nyando Papyrus Wetland, Kenya

Abstract

Wetlands support livelihoods of communities living around them as in the Nyando Papyrus Wetland in Kenya. The Nyando Papyrus Wetlands provide multiple resources hence there are multiple uses and users who often overlap spatially and seasonally causing conflicts. More claims are being exerted on these wetland resources from different sides and institutional levels with different actors. The actors involved refer to various legal systems and mechanisms, and frequently create new hybrid law as in the case in the Nyando papyrus wetlands. These institutions, in various degrees of transformation, still have an important role in determining how resources are used. The objective of this study is to find out about the institutions affecting wetland resource use in the past and in the present and to determine the dynamics of specific natural resource-related institutions in four sub-locations in the Nyando Papyrus Wetlands, Kenya. The study shows that there is legal pluralism in the Nyando Wetlands, which requires synergy for sustainable livelihoods in the local communities and for ecosystem management.