Assessment of Biophysical Land Degradation in Kerio River Basin, Kenya

The study was conducted with the main objective to assess the extent of biophysical land degradation in the basin and propose a policy framework for integrated management in Kenya. Degradation have been confirmed to be taking place in the basin with high degradation in the agricultural based areas and bush land areas. The main cause of degradation is clearing of vegetation to pave way for agricultural activities, fuel wood, overstocking and poor cultivation practices. Although bare lands could be seen as land exposed and susceptible to degradation, it has been confirmed that degradation levels in bare lands is low; therefore it should be noted that degradation is driven by anthropogenic activities as it affects areas mainly with active socio-economic activities. This is a wakeup call to take action and to practice sustainable land use practices. Assessment of institutional policy framework shows that there is legal and policy framework for land degradation management, however there are shortcomings which have to be addressed for effective policy framework. The main challenge being inadequate coordination between the county and national government which brings about disconnect between county and national government resulting to inadequacy in policy formulation and implementation. There needs to be a clear linkage between the two levels of government. This will go hand in hand towards ensuring a catchment based management of land degradation at basin level, as this will enable close touch with the land users thus ensuring sustainable management of land