Ban wetland titles and save mankind

In July last year, a Resident District Commissioner was on the spot over the slashing of an estimated 30 acres of rice in a wetland in the Otuke District. 

The daring move kicked up a stormy debate. There was fury from local farmers, but smiles on the faces of environmentalists. Was it an ideal decision to destroy the crops? How effectively has the government sensitised its masses against wetland encroachment?

This year has started on a “low-key” concerning saving our mother wetlands. The Cabinet has gone silent on its initial decision towards banning all titles on wetlands. Just like the biblical saying, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41), our leaders are either compromised or don’t prioritise environmental concerns. The reclaiming and protection of all wetlands is still a mountain to climb.

Today, Uganda joins the global community to commemorate World Wetlands Day. The national celebrations will be held in Soroti District. The day aims at raising awareness about the vital role of wetlands for the people and the planet.

This year’s Wetlands Day has a rich theme, “Wetlands restoration for people and nature”. For mankind, which mainly survives on water from freshwater bodies, wetlands filter wastewater before they reach lakes or rivers. 

The population of Kampala City and other urban centres, for example, heavily depends on water from swamps and Lake Victoria. National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) spends Shs4.8 billion monthly to treat water for its citizens in the Kampala Metropolitan Area. 

So any further encroachment on wetlands surrounding Lake Victoria means close to 3.6 million people, including the urban poor, will be devoid of clean water. Conserving the wetlands will reduce the NWSC cost of treating water.

At COP27, world leaders blew the trumpet about the significance of wetlands, particularly in mitigating flooding and drought. Wetlands keep rivers flowing even in scarce water conditions and can help recharge the public water supply. They are used as a natural flood management method, where they act as sponges, protecting us from flood peaks. With our flood-prone Kampala City, saving our wetlands will absorb the magnitude of the mess.

The National Environment Management Authority (Nema), which is mandated to safeguard wetlands, must also pull up its socks and crack down on encroachers. Nema must design a robust senistisation approach that aims at transforming the mindset of the citizenry towards living in a clean and hygienic environment. A walk past most of the waterways and trenches in Kampala city is sickening. It’s all littered with polythene bags and plastic bottles. The story is not any different around most wetlands. It’s an ideal time to hold monthly cleaning campaigns in city divisions and walk the talk on environmental enforcement.

Kampala City and many other mushrooming urban areas also lack sufficient financial resources to build the infrastructure needed to adapt to a changing climate. The country must, therefore, adapt to Nature-Based Solutions, which offer potentially cost-effective and viable alternatives. By restoring forests and planting more trees, bringing more greenery into cities, and recycling waste, we will sustainably conserve and restore the ecosystem.

All in all, wetland restoration plays a central role in the path to tackling and adapting to climate change, especially considering all the multiple benefits they bring to local communities, wildlife, and the planet. Uganda’s urban population is projected to reach 21 million by 2040 compared to 7.4 million people in 2016. More pressure will be exerted on the wetland resource in and around the urban areas. With humanity already facing devastating heatwaves, wildfires, and droughts worldwide, now is the time to act.

It’s now nine years since the Cabinet, in 2014, issued a directive to Nema to cancel all land titles acquired in wetlands after the 1995 Constitution.

 However, we have kept playing cat-and-mouse games from ministries to semi-autonomous institutions such as Nema. Our government should care about the future generation and pen on paper the ban on wetland titles. Let’s act now!

Mr Tonny Musani is an environmental journalist.