Human-Driven Determinants of Wetland Degradation and Implications for Environmental Management: A Mixed-methods Study of Kabogobogo Wetland, Gisagara District, Rwanda

Abstract

Small, community-managed wetlands in East Africa remain comparatively under-researched relative to large, nationally significant wetland systems, despite mounting anthropogenic pressure and their disproportionate importance to rural livelihoods. This study examined the human-driven determinants of degradation in Kabogobogo Wetland, Gisagara District, Rwanda, and evaluated their implications for environmental management. Guided by a driver-pressure-state-impact-response conceptual framework, the study tested the hypothesis that human activities, specifically agricultural encroachment, drainage modification, livestock grazing, settlement expansion, and pollution, are significantly associated with observed wetland degradation. A cross-sectional mixed-methods design was used, combining a structured household survey of 359 farmers (drawn from a population of 3,512 using Yamane's formula and stratified random sampling) with 40 purposively sampled key informants, field observation, and document review. Quantitative data were analysed in SPSS 28 using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression; qualitative data were analysed thematically. All respondents (100%) reported a measurable reduction in wetland area and vegetation loss. Agricultural encroachment, settlement expansion, and pollution emerged as the strongest statistically significant predictors of degradation (B = 0.368, 0.211, and 0.225, respectively, all p < .001), and the combined model explained 39.3% of the variance in the degradation index (R² = .393, F(5, 353) = 45.67, p < .001). Despite widespread awareness of enforcement mechanisms (76.9%), only 33.7% of respondents actively participated in reporting violations, revealing a substantial implementation gap between policy and practice. These findings support the hypothesis that human activity is a statistically significant, though partial, determinant of wetland degradation, and point towards community-based monitoring as an underused lever for improving compliance. The study contributes site-specific, quantitative evidence for a wetland type that is common but rarely studied in comparable empirical depth across the East African highlands.