Uganda should join global tree planting campaign
Oct 02, 2008
He who does not heed advice pays expensively. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that over 80% of Uganda will become a desert in less than 100 years if the current climate changes are not addressed.
By Ebenezer Bifubyeka
He who does not heed advice pays expensively. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that over 80% of Uganda will become a desert in less than 100 years if the current climate changes are not addressed.
Global warming and Greenhouse gases have caused temperatures to rise, with south-western Uganda being the most affected. This is evidenced by the reduction of the water table in Mbarara, the declining of water levels in Katonga wetland system, Lake Mburo, River Rwizi, Kitagata hot springs, Lake Nakivale, the persistent droughts since 1990 and the decline in food production.
The FAO representative in Uganda, Percy Misika, says temperatures are still rising and over 80% of the country could turn into a desert soon. Unless the trend is reversed, global warming could rise to between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 (The New Vision, September 18. )
We are already experiencing the consequences of environmental degradation.
Climate change in Karamoja, where plants are confined in forest reserves has escalated to seven droughts that hit the region between 1991 and 2000 as opposed to one drought every 10 years. This is not to mention the 40% drop in the ice caps on Mountain Rwenzori, which has resulted into decreasing river flows and freshwater.
Global warming is a global issue. Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg suggests that, “To win the battle against global warming, we have to win the battle against global deforestation.†He says the government of Norway would donate $1b to the Brazilian government to boost a fund dedicated to replenishing the 11,200sqkms of the Amazon forest that were destroyed last year.
Unlike Uganda, other countries are preparing themselves to battle this monster masking as global warming. Leah Wanambwa, a consultant for the “Billion Tree Campaign†of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says Ethiopia has planted 700 million trees, Turkey 400 million and Mexico 260 million.
Kenya plants one billion trees annually. How many trees have Ugandans planted? We are only harvesting them. About 55,000 hectares of forest cover in Uganda are lost every year, according to the environment state minister, Jesca Eriyo.
Uganda should participate in the Billion Tree Campaign that aims at neutralising the escalating global warming. The campaign aims at planting seven billion trees across the world before the climate change meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in late 2009. The Billion Tree Campaign’s website has registered 2.2 billion planted trees and 3.9 billion tree planting pledges from across the world. Participants come from all spheres of society.
The worldwide Billion Tree Campaign initiated by UNEP was launched in November 2006 as one of the responses to the threat of global warming, as well as to the wider sustainability challenges ranging from water supplies to bio-diversity loss.
The Billion Tree Campaign under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco aims at empowering individuals, communities, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations and governments to protect the environment.
Patriotic citizens should enter tree planting pledges online at www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign and once the trees have been planted, you are required to revisit the website and register the number of planted trees.
Let us use this Billion Tree Campaign as a motivation to keep the looming desert at bay.
The writer is an environmental journalist
He who does not heed advice pays expensively. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that over 80% of Uganda will become a desert in less than 100 years if the current climate changes are not addressed.
Global warming and Greenhouse gases have caused temperatures to rise, with south-western Uganda being the most affected. This is evidenced by the reduction of the water table in Mbarara, the declining of water levels in Katonga wetland system, Lake Mburo, River Rwizi, Kitagata hot springs, Lake Nakivale, the persistent droughts since 1990 and the decline in food production.
The FAO representative in Uganda, Percy Misika, says temperatures are still rising and over 80% of the country could turn into a desert soon. Unless the trend is reversed, global warming could rise to between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 (The New Vision, September 18. )
We are already experiencing the consequences of environmental degradation.
Climate change in Karamoja, where plants are confined in forest reserves has escalated to seven droughts that hit the region between 1991 and 2000 as opposed to one drought every 10 years. This is not to mention the 40% drop in the ice caps on Mountain Rwenzori, which has resulted into decreasing river flows and freshwater.
Global warming is a global issue. Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg suggests that, “To win the battle against global warming, we have to win the battle against global deforestation.†He says the government of Norway would donate $1b to the Brazilian government to boost a fund dedicated to replenishing the 11,200sqkms of the Amazon forest that were destroyed last year.
Unlike Uganda, other countries are preparing themselves to battle this monster masking as global warming. Leah Wanambwa, a consultant for the “Billion Tree Campaign†of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says Ethiopia has planted 700 million trees, Turkey 400 million and Mexico 260 million.
Kenya plants one billion trees annually. How many trees have Ugandans planted? We are only harvesting them. About 55,000 hectares of forest cover in Uganda are lost every year, according to the environment state minister, Jesca Eriyo.
Uganda should participate in the Billion Tree Campaign that aims at neutralising the escalating global warming. The campaign aims at planting seven billion trees across the world before the climate change meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in late 2009. The Billion Tree Campaign’s website has registered 2.2 billion planted trees and 3.9 billion tree planting pledges from across the world. Participants come from all spheres of society.
The worldwide Billion Tree Campaign initiated by UNEP was launched in November 2006 as one of the responses to the threat of global warming, as well as to the wider sustainability challenges ranging from water supplies to bio-diversity loss.
The Billion Tree Campaign under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco aims at empowering individuals, communities, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations and governments to protect the environment.
Patriotic citizens should enter tree planting pledges online at www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign and once the trees have been planted, you are required to revisit the website and register the number of planted trees.
Let us use this Billion Tree Campaign as a motivation to keep the looming desert at bay.
The writer is an environmental journalist