Let ban on wetlands spread to construction

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has communicated to Agriculture and Water ministers that President Museveni has directed a ban on farming rice in wetlands.

The Ministry of Water and Environment defines a wetland as an area of land that is permanently or seasonally saturated with water. These include marshes, swamps and bogs and cover 11 percent of the total land area across the country.

The directive by Mr Museveni is much needed because there has been a sharp decline in wetland coverage from 15.5 percent in 1994 and to 8.9 percent now due to encroachment, according to the National Environment Management Authority.

The effects of wetland degradation are dire. It has the potential of ravaging family livelihoods and making people even poorer.  For example, communities that have had their wetlands degraded have experienced food insecurity, malnutrition, water shortages, income loss, and severe drought.

The February 8 letter from Ms Nabbanja came just six days after this newspaper reported that the government destroyed more than 10 hectares (about 24.7 acres) of rice in Okole wetland, Lira City.

“As you must have been aware, H.E the President is concerned about the rate at which many wetlands across the country are drying-out because of rice growing amongst other bad human activities,” Ms Nabbanja wrote.

The directive is not the first, with the Minister of State for Environment, Ms Beatrice Anywar, announcing last July that Cabinet had banned the growing of rice and other crops in wetlands across the country.

Like many other directives, the implementation is very poor. Many times politics takes the centre stage.

The decision, though well-meaning, should be amended to include factories and structures that have been set up in wetlands, especially in the Kampala Metropolitan Area and other cities.

Many Ugandans have accused the government of double standards, asking the authorities to first address issues of factories that are releasing “deadly” pollutants to wetlands. There are malls, houses, factories, and petrol stations being erected in wetlands across the country yet the powers that be have paid a deaf ear to people’s cries. The accusations carry some water. Why is Cabinet silent on the wetland degradation in Kampala and major cities? Why should the authorities watch as wetlands under their noses are degraded and pay attention to thosehundreds of kilometers away? For such a directive to be meaningful, the government should apply uniform standards across board. Otherwise, it will come off as witch-hunt and that laws only apply to the poor while the rich swim in impunity.

Our commitment to you

We pledge:

• To be accurate and fair in all we do.
• To be respectful to all in our pursuit of the truth.
• To refuse to accept any compensation beyond that provided by Monitor Publications Ltd. for what we do in our news gathering and decision-making.

Further, we ask that we be informed whenever you feel that we have fallen short in our attempt to keep these commitments.