Environmentalists want community-led approaches in protecting wetlands
Residents of Rwampara District after they were arrested for wetland degradation in October 2023. PHOTO | ZADOCK AMANYISA
What you need to know:
- Mr Eron Kiiza, an environmentalist at Environment Shield, says communities and individuals are the biggest threats to wetlands, and using them to protect wetlands would be a great deal.
As governments and conservation enthusiasts mark World Wetlands Day today (Friday), environmentalists say community-led approaches to the protection and restoration of wetlands and the environment, in general, can be more effective by overpowering the population pressure and resource cuts among other factors.
Mr Eron Kiiza, an environmentalist at Environment Shield, says communities and individuals are the biggest threats to wetlands, and using them to protect wetlands would be a great deal.
“Because they participate in the destruction of wetlands, they can be turned from being real threats to protectors. You know wetlands are destroyed by both ordinary people and high-end individuals, and most of these people do it out of ignorance. If sensitised through robust public sensitization, especially on the role of wetlands, they can be resourceful,” he said.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), wetlands cover around 6 per cent of Earth’s surface, and they are crucial for human health, food supply, and livelihoods, but they are vanishing faster.
The Bushenyi District Environment Officer, Mr Vincent Kataate, said wetland degradation stands at 12 per cent against the district wetland cover of 15 per cent.
“Using communities in wetland protection is one way of building sustainability. When the local people understand that wetlands belong to them and are important, they will protect them. This approach has worked here in Bushenyi,” he noted.
Women for Green Economy Movement Uganda Chief Executive Officer, Ms Ireen Twongiirwe, said communities can be more useful in conservation programmes only when empowered.
“Government is key to making these efforts work. The government should prioritise sensitization engagements so that people can understand how dangerous it is to destroy wetlands. It is from there that they will become champions and defenders of nature,” she remarked.
Through a statement issued on Friday, NEMA said: “We continue to engage stakeholders to adopt sustainable ways of utilising the resource. In 2022, and subsequently in 2023, together with several partners, we had a successful restoration of part of Lubigi Wetland and several others across the country. More such exercises will continue in all degraded wetland ecosystems.”
The government has taken further decisions to scale up actions on wetland conservation, including the cancellation of land titles in wetlands, the restoration of degraded wetlands, and the enforcement and provision of alternative livelihoods to wetland users.
