Policy makers moot law to protect wetlands, peatlands in Nile basin countries
A woman sprays her tomatoes that she planted on a peatland found in the Mayanja- Kato wetland in Busabala Makindye Sabagabo division- Wakiso District. PHOTO PAUL ADUDE
What you need to know:
- “For us to come out with the policy, one; is we have to map the issues across the basin to identify the particular ones affecting a country and after identifying these issues, we come together and identify proper approaches of how these issues can be addressed,” he said.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Nile Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-TAC) chairperson Mr Francis Wajo Wani has said a new trans boundary wetlands and peatlands policy will protect the environment against degradation in the Nile basin Countries.
“The wetland and peatland protection project has been ongoing in individual countries but now since the threat to the wetlands is becoming basin wide, we are going to initiate the making of the policy framework on saving peat lands as a result of the lessons learnt from this workshop as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr Wajo made the remarks at the end of the Peatland clusters of the Nile basin political dialogues Peatlands Week for countries identified as peat hotspot clusters that include Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan held in Wakiso District.
“For us to come out with the policy, one; is we have to map the issues across the basin to identify the particular ones affecting a country and after identifying these issues, we come together and identify proper approaches of how these issues can be addressed,” he said.
Mr Wajo said the committee is concluding the Nile basin trans boundary water resources management policy after which it will draft the wetlands and peatlands framework policy that will also address climate change issues.
The NBI deputy executive director, Mr Michael Kizza, said the dialogue was aimed at bridging the gap between conservation approaches and sustainable use of peatlands by raising awareness about the economic and development benefits of peatland protection.
The German Development Cooperation (GIZ) advisor, Mr Juan Carlso Sanchez, said if formulated, the policy will enable Nile basin countries activate stakeholders at national level to continuously bring up initiatives to protect the wetlands and save the environment.
“It will be a wonderful thing if countries could agree to such a policy, wetlands and peat lands need special type of protection, peat lands are a very fragile special eco type of system. We can learn from these examples that by making use of the resource sustainably which is possible both for livelihoods and ensuring that climate change problem is tackled” he said.
The chief executive officer Maka Pads, Ms Mirembe Nassuna, said there is need for the population to understand the importance of wetlands to their social economic wellbeing as well as survival.
“You can actually use wetlands, like at Maka Pads we don’t uproot, we cut three quarters and in three to six months, this papyrus would have grown back and can be used again so you actually don’t have to destroy the papyrus,” she said.
Ms Nassuna said there is need to have sustainable means of harvesting papyrus for use while making sure any waste from the papyrus can be used sustainably by the population.
