Browsing by Author "Kimbowa George"

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    The forest-water-people nexus in the Mt. Elgon Water Tower Region, Uganda: impacts of tree cover and population changes on water availability
    (Makerere University, 2025) Kimbowa George
    A critical knowledge gap exists in understanding how biophysical changes and socio-institutional dynamics jointly influence water availability and land-use planning, under future development scenarios in data-scarce mountainous regions, particularly in terms of integrating diverse knowledge sources for informed decision-making. Despite numerous natural resource management initiatives and agroforestry programs, forest-water governance in these landscapes remains limited, primarily due to institutional weaknesses rather than local resistance. This study investigates the interactions between human population and tree cover changes and water availability in Uganda’s Mt. Elgon Water Tower Region (MEWTR), focusing on the Sipi River and River Manafwa sub-catchments. An integrated, participatory, mixed-methods approach was applied. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyse long-term data (1990–2024) to assess causal links between population change, tree cover change, and hydrological variables. Results show a decline in tree cover from 27.1% in 1990 to 18.9% in 2017. Surprisingly, streamflow in Sipi River Sub-catchment (SRSC) increased during dry months, despite minimal precipitation change—suggesting complex hydrological responses to land-use change transformations.