By Gerald Tenywa
and Cyprian Musoke

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni yesterday called on the countries in the Great Lakes region to protect wetlands and forests to stem the spread of the desert.

He said abundant water would help generate hydro-electric power for industries, and help reduce the cost of doing business.

“There are swamps in Southern Sudan called sudds and there are forests in the D.R. Congo that are key in the rain-making process in Uganda,” Museveni noted.

“Those swamps and forests have a big impact on Uganda.”

He was speaking at the opening of the Africa Water Congress at the Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo, which examines the link between climate change and the availability of water.

Over 1,000 delegates from around the world are expected to participate in the three-day conference.

Museveni cited West Nile and parts of Acholi as regions that receive a lot of rainfall because of the sudds and forests in the neighbouring countries.

He said wetlands and forests contribute up to 40% of the rains in Uganda, while the other 60% comes from the oceans and seas around East Africa.

“Protecting wetlands in Uganda, Southern Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya are crucial for this part of Africa.”

The President praised environment activist and Nobel Prize winner, Prof. Wangari Mathaai, who advocated for the protection of ecological systems and for rain water harvesting.

He attacked the colonial agreements over the Nile, saying they favour Egypt and Sudan.

The agreements, he noted, had stipulated that 85 billion cubic meters of water per annum would be consumed by Egypt and 18 billion by Sudan. “The rest of us are supposed to get nothing,” he said, adding that under the auspices of the Nile Basin Initiative, they are renegotiating the agreements.

World Bank director for water and energy Jamal Sagir called water resource management a key challenge to humanity in the future as more water-related conflicts are expected.

The President of the African Water Association, Mamadou Dia, called for addressing climate change, which is expected to hit the continent hard.
“That is why Ouagadougou is flooded, there are landslides in Uganda and geographic shifts, resulting from extreme climatic conditions.”

The water crisis, he added, hampers growth, increases the cost of operating power plants and leads to load- shedding. He called for exploring other sources of renewable energy, like solar.