By Phillo Aryatwijuka,
Last month as I was travelling along Masaka road I could not
help but notice some of the changes on one of the big swamps as compared to ten
years ago when I used the same road. While trying to share this with a friend I
was travelling with he was quick to note “what’s with all this fuss about the
swamp? China is one of the biggest growing economies, do they care about swamps?
On the contrary they don’t!”
Considering that 80% of the population is dependent on
agriculture and Uganda being an agricultural driven economy, natural resources
like wetlands offers immense values and functions. These values and functions
have been on several occasions reiterated by the President of Uganda who consistently
sent out strong and clear messages in on the protection and sustainable use of
wetlands during his several visits across the country notably at Kanyamatambara Village of
Kyangyenyi Sub- County in Sheema district, Rushoroza Seed School in
Kihihi and during his address to the congregation attending Easter Sunday church service at St. Matthew
Cathedral, Kyamate in Ntungamo district last year.
According to the
report of the state house media center April 2017, The President during his
address to the congregation at St. Matthew Cathedral, Kyamate affirmed that “Wetlands
are water reservoirs. They must be conserved. Any encroachment on wetlands is
disastrous. If wetlands are drained, where shall farmers access water for
irrigation? How can one light fire in a granary?” he queried. Without doubt the
president’s message clearly reflects to our wetlands, our life!
It should be noted
that since 1994 to date Ugandan Wetlands have been disappearing at an alarming
rate mostly attributed to human factors; population and urbanization being on
the rise thus encroachment for agriculture, human settlements among others as
highlighted in the Uganda Wetlands Atlas Volume two launched February Last year
by the Ministry of Water and Environment in collaboration with UNEP which
highlighted that wetland resources are 11% of the total land area
The question now is
how then we can help our greater communities to understand the value of
wetlands most importantly that they are not being chased from using wetlands
but rather encouraged to use wetlands sustainably while appreciating their
special roles in ensuring water quality, flood control as well as their roles in
enhancing resilience of communities to climate change.
On the other hand
how do we deal with private sector investments that encroach on wetlands? The
private sector has overtime taken advantage of these ecosystem services and
sometimes misused them at an expense of other Ugandans. If we are to save our
wetlands we need to expedite the process of cancelling all the titles in our
wetlands and stop any title issuance. Communities have overtime complained that
the government chases the “small fish” while leaving the “big fish” to enjoy
the water alone.
Currently
the ongoing review of the 23 year old Uganda National Policy for the
Conservation and Management of Wetland Resources 1995 and the draft Bill by the
Ministry of Water and Environment in collaboration with Partners for Resilience
through the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Wetlands Project provides Uganda
and Ugandans a timely opportunity to come up with a comprehensive legislative
framework and strategies that addresses key emerging issues that contribute to
the degradation of this resource.
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