Community-Led Management and Governance of the Gambella Wetland

At the Gambella wetland nursery, a youth participant (left) checks newly propagated seedlings—part of ENLITE's day-to-day work to supply trees for local restoration efforts. / Photo: CETRAD

Community-Led Management and Governance of the Gambella Wetland

Our Objective

Establishing inclusive, community-led governance of the Gambella wetland that brings together local knowledge, formal institutions, and diverse voices to ensure fair and sustainable management of shared resources.
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The project was launched on March 17, 2022 and is currently in progress.

Summary

Water scarcity, climate variability, competing land claims, and complex tenure systems make governing the Gambella wetland a significant challenge. This project responds by building inclusive governance structures that actively involve local communities, particularly women, youth, and marginalised groups, in planning, decision-making, and monitoring of wetland resources.

The project integrates traditional ecological knowledge with scientific approaches and builds local capacity for sustainable water and pasture management, ecosystem restoration, and the protection of key ecosystem services. Participants gain skills in conflict resolution, adaptive governance, and equitable benefit sharing, supported by sustained awareness-raising efforts designed to drive lasting behaviour change. Strong partnerships with both state and non-state actors underpin the work, ensuring institutional support, policy alignment, and the long-term embedding of participatory wetland governance beyond the project period.

Project Connections

Part of the topic

Stewardship
Stewardship
Part of the topic

Human well-being that supports nature
Human well-being that supports nature
Part of the solutionscape

Protecting water, wetlands, and commons under competing claims

Timeline

From practice to public evidence: monitoring nature-based solutions for Kenya’s water

News November 3, 2025

The authors propose three pillars that work together: Adaptive, co-designed monitoring through living labs connects local practice to agreed protocols and continuous learning, so datasets are consistent over time and anchored in place. A national, open NbS repository built on FAIR principles makes vegetation, hydrology, and household water metrics findable, citable, and verifiable, which allows results to be checked, compared, and reused beyond single projects. Standardized indicators embedded in planning and finance ensure county plans, national strategies, and outcome-based instruments track performance in the same way—linking budgets to outcomes rather than activities. The paper also points to practical enablers: long-term monitoring, evaluation, and learning budgets; open-access publishing and co-authorship with practitioners and county officers; and careful attention to land tenure and free, prior, and informed consent to sustain monitoring access and trust. Read alongside our work in Kenya, the emphasis is familiar—pair grounded practice with shared evidence so decisions travel across levels and endure. Ultimately, the value of Kenya’s nature-based solutions will be judged not only by what is built, but by what is learned and shared. Turning monitoring into public evidence—co-designed, comparable, and open—gives communities and authorities a common reference point for decisions and finance. That is how local practice informs policy, and how water governance becomes both more accountable and more resilient over time.

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Understanding wetland coexistence

Project Update February 23, 2025

The project focuses on fostering effective governance structures through collaboration with grassroots groups and regional institutions. By encouraging behavior change among water and pasture users, the project promotes more sustainable practices through training, sensitization, and community-led learning. This approach helps reduce pressures on the wetland, allowing it to regenerate naturally and benefit both people and wildlife. Key initiatives include improving access to water via kiosks and troughs (long, narrow containers used to provide water or food for livestock), easing competition between livestock, wildlife, and people. This supports coexistence and reduces conflict while promoting conservation. The project also documents best practices and develops monitoring tools to ensure long-term impact and sustainability. By co-creating a shared vision for the wetland’s conservation, the project aims to strengthen local governance and resource management, ensuring that the wetland continues to support biodiversity and human livelihoods. This collaborative approach, combining knowledge exchange and innovation, seeks to ensure that the Gambella Wetland thrives for future generations.

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