Govt urged to include environment in Covid recovery
Houses and shops at Kachanga landing site in Masaka District which were submerged due to the rising water levels in Lake Victoria on February 26. PHOTO | ISSA ALIGA
What you need to know:
- Evidence has shown that Lake Victoria is reducing in size because of the pressures around it.
Environmental activists have appealed to the government to include environmental conservation in its Covid-19 economic recovery.
The executive director of Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), Dr Arthur Bainomugisha, said government intervention programmes such as Emyooga, Parish Development Model and assistance packages to companies that had collapsed due to the effects of Covid-19, must equally invest in conserving the environment and natural resources.
“People should be guided as they engage in different economic activities so as to check deforestation, wetland reclamation, pollution and degradation of rivers and lakes,” Dr Bainomugisha said.
He made the appeal during a strategic meeting for Uganda Green Economy Network members held in Kampala last week.
The purpose of the meeting was to build momentum for policy reforms to promote green recovery as one of the strategies for Covid-19 recovery.
Dr Bainomugisha noted that water bodies such as River Rwizi and River Kafu in Western Uganda, River Mpologoma in the east and Lake Victoria were already being affected by human activities such as rice growing, sand mining, brick laying, charcoal burning and disposal of waste into the rivers, among others.
“Evidence has shown that Lake Victoria is reducing in size because of the pressures around it. River Rwizi is disappearing, especially in the catchment areas of Buhweju and Sheema, due to sand mining and release of waste into the river. About 10 percent of River Mpologoma has been degraded by rice growers.
The same is happening to River Kafu where charcoal burning and agricultural activities are affecting the lake,” he said.
He threatened to name and shame people in positions of authority, who are involved in activities that impact on the environment.
Mr Nathan Mununizi, a senior environment officer in the Ministry of Water and Environment, said there is a need to follow up people who migrated from urban centres to rural areas during the lockdown, saying some could be destroying the environment to make ends meet.
The acting commissioner for Development Assistance and Regional Cooperation in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Mr Andrew Masaba, advised local governments to make budgets that are sensitive to biodiversity.
