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Uganda: Conserving wetlands to eradicate poverty
For a long time, wetlands in Uganda were condemned and seen as dangerous habitat that provide breeding ground for deadly reptiles, animals and insects such as the anopheles mosquito that causes malaria.

This perception, however, placed wetlands under great danger as people launched war against them. Large chunks of wetlands countrywide especially in east, central and western Uganda were converted to agricultural land and grazing fields. And with the current increasing population and urbanisation, marshlands are facing the highest degree of degradation.

On a daily basis, people degrade swampland by filling them with all sorts of waste. This is done purposely to reclaim land for human settlements and industrial parks.

However, unplanned wetland conversion has greatly devastated their potential of storing water, filtering nutrients and pollutants. Moreover, it has caused natural calamities such as floods that affect some parts of the country, pollution of most water bodies for example, Lake Victoria and declining fish stocks as well as falling water tables and micro-climatic changes.

But, due to their high economic value, environmentalists have embarked on transforming their obscurity and negative image to something.
The Ministry of Water and Environment and environmental organisations like the Nile Basin Initiative have started trading the gospel of managing and conserving them.

According to Ms Maria Mutagamba, Water and Environment Minister, wetlands are the most valuable ecosystems the country has, and, marshlands are environmental capital which if utilised appropriately, can eliminate extreme poverty in the region.

People in Uganda, use wetlands—often called the country’s “granaries for water”— in various ways to sustain their lives and livelihoods. They rely on them for water, construction material, and fuel, and use them for farming, fishing, as well as to graze livestock and many other products that keep the rural and urban areas ticking. They also bring beauty, in the form of scenic landscapes, forests, animals and birds.

According to a new report – Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda, wetlands supply direct or subsistence employment for 2.7 million people, almost 10 per cent of the population. In many parts of the country, wetland products and services are the sole source for livelihoods and the main safety net for the poorest households.

And globally, wetlands hold the bulk of the world’s fresh water stock and in the East Africa, wetlands store, distribute and clean most of our water.
Going by their advantages, Ms Mutagamba says some special emphasis should be put on their management. “Being granaries of water alone warrant our efforts to ensure that wetlands are managed in the way that would enable them survive to serve the future generations,” she said. She was closing the 5th Anglophone regional training on wetlands and poverty reduction for wetland practitioners at Entebbe.

The workshop, which attracted wetland practitioners from Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and DRC, was sponsored by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). Mr James Musinguzi, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre Conservation, Education and Information Manager, said, “Since land has became scarce and people are now depending on wetlands for survival, we have to find ways of utilising the source to eliminate poverty as well as conserving them for the young generation.”

Minister Mutagamba explains that though the ministry is advocating for swampland conservation, the issue is that marshlands should not be left entirely alone. “This means that whatever activities we propose in wetlands must not endanger their key-functions like water recharge and discharge, flood control and water purification,” the minister said adding, “Secondary, development in wetlands should not bar current users from their rights to access benefits, nor should they have severe negative impacts downstream community.”

Currently, the Wetlands Department is reviewing the National wetlands policy and drafting a bill to address all issues threatening the source. The Commissioner for Wetland Management Department Paul Mafabi, said the revised policy would explain wiser use of wetlands.

In Uganda, there are no recent, exact countrywide statistics on changes in wetland area. The last national land cover with detailed wetland information was produced in 1996. But, Mr Mafabi said the ministry has started carrying an inventory using satellite to assess what has been degraded.
“After this exercise, we will be in position to know the right figure,” he added.

http://www.monitor.co.ug
 

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