For the umpteenth time, let’s protect wetlands

What you need to know:

  • The issue: Wetlands destruction
    Our view: Wetlands protect lakeshores from wave action, reduce the impacts of floods, and they act as sponge or absorb pollutants and improve water quality. They also provide habitat for animals and plants and many contain a wide diversity of life, supporting plants and animals.

We are at it again. Yesterday, this newspaper reported that government had given away part of Lubigi wetland in Wakiso District to an investor.

Because Lubigi, located in northwest of Kampala, is one of the biggest wetlands filtering diverse effluents and floodwater in the city, the giveaway implied that areas surrounding it would be prone to floods and other side effects of losing wetlands.

It does not help that the relevant authorities are even reading from different scripts on the matter. For example, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) spokesperson Peter Kauju and Mr Wilberforce Wanyama, the wetlands and aquatic specialist at the Ministry of Water and Environment, confirm the investor has established base and that he was issued with an Environment Impact Assessment permit, which authorises them to build in the wetland.

Yet the National Environment Management Authority executive director, Dr Tom Okurut, denies issuing such a permit. “Nema has not given that fenced wetland to anyone. We have neither approved it… instead the actors have been required to remove their fence... Please check with KCCA for any approval of development plan,” Dr Okurut says.

That the more than one-acre area opposite the National Water and Sewerage Cooperation treatment plant has already been fenced off and no one has raised a finger yet, says the people concerned are either okay with it or are unbothered.

Whether it has been approved or not, the encroachment, in itself, is worrying and it must be nipped in the bud. In 1994, when the first wetland inventory and assessment was done, Uganda had 15.6 per cent of the land surface covered in permanent and seasonal wetlands. But since then, we have lost more than 44 per cent of the wetland coverage. This means that we are remaining with less than 8.4 per cent of wetlands covering the land surface. It also means that by 2040, according to the projections of the ministry, Uganda will remain with only 1.6 per cent wetland coverage!

For context, wetlands protect lakeshores from wave action, reduce the impact of floods, and they act as sponge or absorb pollutants and improve water quality. They also provide habitat for animals and plants and many contain a wide diversity of life, supporting plants and animals.

Already, we are experiencing climate change as a result of forest destruction. Floods in the city and other parts of the country have taken lives and property because of poor draining and abuse of wetlands. Yet we don’t seem to learn any lesson.

Let’s save our wetlands!