Globe Skimmer Dragonly (Pantala flavescens) at Sawaiti Swamp April 2015.

Sawaiti wetland is an important biodiversity area with no official protection status. Swamp adjacent communities derive a number of social, economic and environmental benefits from it. Sawaiti forms a very important feeding and breeding ground for the Rift Valley populations of birds including the endangered Madagascar Pond Heron, Grey crowned Crane among others. Although interventions have been put in place to address the conservation challenges facing the swamp, it is under threat due to the unsustainable use and others arising from climate change. Some of the threats still experienced include but not limited to; hunting and unsustainable medicinal plant harvesting. Although the previous project has established community conservation groups around the swamp, there is no framework through which problems and interventions required for effective conservation of the swamp are organised.

The project documented the species and social economic activities around the swamp but a more robust biodiversity and social assessment study needs to be conducted for raising the profile of the wetland especially through conservation players. Efforts need to be boosted to ensure better conservation of the swamp through increased awareness and implementing solutions as identified in the management frameworks.