Nobel Laureate Maathai warns on forests destruction
Minister for Water and Environment Maria Mutagamba (2ndL) with President Museveni (L) welcome Prof. Maathai at the 15th African International Water Congress and Exhibition in Uganda at Munyonyo on March 15. President Museveni appealed to the all African government to invest more in water conservation and harvest rain water for Africa. Photo by Joseph Kiggundu
What you need to know:
Prof. Maathai faulted the governments for not costing the environmental services provided by forests, watershed and wetlands ecosystems, adding that if they did, water would be a more valuable resource that can be managed efficiently and responsibly.
Munyonyo
Governments must curb the fast diminishing rate of forest cover or risk suffering from water stress and climate changes in the future, Nobel Peace prize laureate and Founder of the Green Belt Movement Professor Wangari Maathai has warned.
Prof. Maathai emphasised the role of conserving forests while speaking on Tuesday at the 15th International African Water and Sanitation Congress taking place in Kampala.
“One of the most effective strategies to ensure that there is water is to protect natural forest eco-systems, water shed and wetlands. Protecting forests is ensuring that there will be water,” she said.
Prof. Maathai faulted the governments for not costing the environmental services provided by forests, watershed and wetlands ecosystems, adding that if they did, water would be a more valuable resource that can be managed efficiently and responsibly.
“Even then, access to clean drinking water should be a human right. Denying people clean drinking water would tantamount to condemning them to death,” she added.
Water harvesting
She also emphasised the need for the governments to focus on harvesting rain water. In Uganda, official statistics show that about 10 million Ugandans do not have access to clean and safe water. Districts in the north and north eastern Uganda have the lowest water coverage of less than 12 per cent.
Environmental experts have warned that much of the country’s forest cover could soon disappear if no action is taken to conserve them.
The latest National Environment Management Authority report on the state of forests in Uganda, indicates that at least 1.2m hectares of forest cover has so far been lost between 1990 and 2005.
