The Lukanga swamp is a wetland in Central Zambia which for hundreds of years has supported indigenous people. These people have built their livelihood and cultural identities based the ecosystem services it provides. An important part of understanding the ecosystem’s dynamics and its ability to generate services is taking into account the human aspect that influences and is influenced by nature. This paper discusses Lukanga Swamps as a Social–ecological system with linkages across time and space, with levels of organization and decisions made in one place affecting people and ecosystem functions in another place. The paper aims to investigate relationships among stakeholders and interactions between stakeholders and the Lukanga ecosystem. It was found that there were tensions and negative perceptions between stakeholders which prevented effective participation for NRM. Other factors affecting the status of the Lukanga Swamps were the increased value of common pool resources due to demand from surrounding urban areas, weakening of traditional institutions for natural resource management and ineffective governance and monitoring from various government ministries and departments. The paper argues that an important part of achieving Socio - ecological sustainability is building trust and through the creation of stakeholder platforms.