Mobilizing Evidence-based Knowledge for Sustainable Wetlands Co-management and Co-governance amidst increasing Anthropogenic and Environmental Stressors: Key Lessons from Mityana District, Uganda

•Two wetland systems crisscross Mityana district (Lake Wamala and River Mayanja) and form a part of the Lake Victoria basin catchment.•Limited research and knowledge of the critical wetland values among most rural communities.•Complex anthropogenic threats are primary threat drivers and loss of culturally valuable wetlands leads to socio-cultural-ecological grief.•Sedentary communities along wetlands have untapped social science knowledge of wetlands governance and management.•The co-developed Sustainable Wetlands Management Action Pathway (SWeMAP) provides seven (7) critical social science insights for sustainable wetlands governance and management across geographies. Wetlands (covering about 1.5–1.6 billion hectares globally), are critical biodiversity and livelihood hotspots. Wetlands further replenish the global economy with $47.4 trillion/year worth of ecosystem services. By jealously guarding wetlands, progress toward sustainable development goals, and livelihood welfare are possible. Unfortunately, despite the promulgation of wetland governance mechanisms, 35 percent of the global natural wetlands have been lost since the 1970s. This could be worse in undocumented or explored wetland zones situated in remote tropical regions. In this study, we bring to the fore insights from 286 documents sourced from Scopus and engagements from 105 citizens in Mityana, to (i) map wetlands (including the current vulnerabilities and threats), and (ii) co-develop a wetlands management action pathway that could create sustainable co-management possibilities and sustainable livelihood futures. Findings revealed that although research on wetlands has increased for the last 31 years, since 2021, it has plummeted. In Uganda, wetland research and scholarship is predominantly situated around the Lake Victoria region. Most research focuses on natural or biological sciences. Emerging policy themes and trending research topics are shifting from key wetland management paradigms. From a total of 105 sampled wetlands scattered across fourteen (14) sub-counties in the Mityana district, critical wetland issues were unraveled. Mityana is crossed by two wetland systems (Lake Wamala and River Mayanja dominated by permanent papyrus and seasonal swamps respectively. Wetlands offer unique livelihood, cultural assets/capitals, and ecological benefits (including cultural/aesthetics meaning). An unfathomable rate of degradation is evident. Anthropogenic factors are the predominant threat dri