ABSTRACT
Ramsar Site, have focussed on activities close to the lake shore since its declaration in 1995. Evaluation of the environmental impact of lakeshore horticulture is not possible without any quantification of the influence from the wider catchment. Habitat assessment of the river systems reveals a diversity of habitats that may influence lake quality, including the adverse effects stemming from the intensification of land use, primarily subsistence farming. Protection of certain river corridor habitat features may be critical to the continuing health of both the lake and its catchment. A number of principles are identified to guide the application of habitat-based assessment. These include the need to record and interpret habitat features consistently and appropriately in order to ensure that both site-and habitat-scale processes can be determined. Appropriate and sustainable development of wetlands then rests upon understanding their characteristics and processes, and the needs and culture of the local people. Where the former extent and nature of degraded wetlands can be determined or reconstructed from evidence, it may be possible to estimate their contribution to catchment functioning, 'carrying capacity' and sustainability. Methods developed for the SWAMP expert system may be potentially applied to these degraded wetland areas so as to restore at least some of the beneficial ecosystem functions from which broader-scale social, economic and environmental benefits may flow. Developed countries, and the multinational companies based in them who are the commercial customers of agriculture in tropical countries, have an interest in promoting sustainable forms of development in industrializing nations. Implementation of habitat-based assessment schemes may provide a robust and cost-effective means to achieve this, backed up by education to increase local capacity to determine sustainable uses of habitat within catchments.
