20110208
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Achilles Byaruhanga is now Executive Director of Nature Uganda, which is striving for the well-being of natural resources. When he was at his early days, he used to herd cows as many of his village colleagues. Thus, waking up early to deploy the caws and getting back home late evening were daily activities of Byaruhanga.

From those days when his village was as cold as an ice in the refrigerator especially in mornings and evenings, Byaruhanga had good and bad memories.

Particularly in the evenings, the weather went down so that he could not even move his fingers. “When we herd cows, we usually intermingles our right and left hand fingers to hold the stick”. Byaruhanga recalls. “Thus, when I came back home I was not able to move my fingers to pick beans; they rather run in the space between my fingers”.

However, according to Byaruhanga, this no longer happens in that area. “When I went back few months back, I observed completely changed weather. Regardless of the time, the weather is hot throughout the day”, he regretted. Byaruhanga is deadly sure that this occurs due to climatic change, which is followed by mostly the degradation of wetlands and other related human interference against natural resources like in other several parts of Uganda.

Wetlands in Uganda

According to National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), in 1964, the total area of wetlands was estimated at 32,000 km2 but by 1999, it had decreased to about 13 percent of the total area of Uganda. Preliminary data from the National Forestry Authority (NFA) also suggest that this has now been reduced to 11 percent of total land area.

Despite the fact the world dedicated 2011 as the year of forests and the celebration of this year wetlands day on the theme of wetlands and forests-forest for water and wetlands, some 55,000 hectares of forest cover disappears in Uganda annually because of poverty and population pressure.

By 1990 Uganda’s forest cover was at 5 million hectares but reduced to 3.5 million hectares in 2010. According to a report by NEMA in 2010, Uganda could lose all its forest cover in less than 30 years if the current trend of deforestation is not checked.

Wetlands or waste lands?

According to a report-Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda, wetlands provide about 320,000 workers with direct employment and provide subsistence employment for over 2.4 million.

On the other hand, the Global Water Partnership in East Africa states that Uganda losses approximately 15% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to the destruction of its natural resources such as wetlands. Wetlands destruction alone costs Uganda nearly 2billions shillings annually and contamination of water resources which is partly caused by reduced buffering capacity of open water bodies costs Uganda nearly 38billion annually.

Paul Mafabi, Wetland Commissioner under the Ministry of Water and Environment, also acknowledged that in Uganda especially wetlands are facing different challenges including leasing, population growth, urbanization and poverty.

While Mafabi demanded shared responsibility to restore wetlands, environmentalists pointed their fingers on politicians.

Godber Tumushabe, Policy Analyst and Executive Director of Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, argued politicians are interfering against the well-being of wetlands instead of respecting the law. “It is not a matter of awareness, science or technical knowledge. Wetlands and natural resources in Uganda are suffering from lack of good governance”, he stated.

Where are the laws?

The Ugandan constitution which came into function in 1995 has several articles that talk about wetland conservation. The constitution, for example, in its article 237 says “Government or a local government shall hold in trust for the people and protect natural lakes, rivers, wetlands, forest reserves, game reserves national parks and any land to be reserved for ecological and touristic purposes for the common good of all citizens”.

The country also adopted national wetlands policy in 1994, after six years it ratified the Ramsan Convention, which was signed in 1971 to conserve and manage wetlands.

However, for environmentalist like Godber Tumushabe, and Achilles Byaruhanga, all these paper- based laws by themselves do not give sense. They rather need a single but visible action to restore the declined wetlands. Achilles Byaruhanga, Executive Director, Nature Uganda wishes to not feel hot when goes back to his village.