Sustainable utilization of cultural heritage sites for posterity in Kisumu County Kenya

Cultural Heritage sites in Kisumu County are repositories of community cultural belief artifacts replete with myths and legends and rich biodiversity threatened with extinction. These resources can be developed as “Exotic products” in an ecotourism package. There are hardly any community conservation efforts for protecting and conserving cultural heritage sites yet they constitute the only sources of community treasured plant and animals species. The major objectives of the study were to generate information for conservation, sustainable utilization and management of cultural heritage sites in the LVB. The study reviewed Secondary data and used participatory methods as well as field and on-station experiment. This research apart from documenting sacredness and cultural value also inventoried biodiversity of cultural heritage habitats, and sought paths for sustainable development. Sensitization, training in asset management, plant propagation and improved resources harvesting are needed. Value addition with eco-tourism including natures trails, documentation of artifacts’, myths and legends and development of “indigenous exotic cuisines” using indigenous vegetables, fruits and other native recipes are suggested. Further interventions may include informal education for capacity building in communities and integration of informal education in school curriculum.