Lakes, wetlands, forests shield against changing climate

Apr 27, 2017

The Great Lakes Region covers 850,000 square kilometers with over 50 million people

 

The conservation of ecological systems including lakes will help people to become more resilient against the adverse impacts of climate change.

"We have research which shows that 40% of the rain comes from forests," said Dr. Goretti Kimono Kitutu who is the State Minister for the environment. "The wetlands influence the micro climate and support fisheries," she said.

She was speaking yesterday Wednesday ahead a regional meeting "The African Great Lakes International Conference on Conservation and Development in a changing climate that will take place from 2nd to 5th May.

The meeting will take place at Imperial Resort Hotel in Entebbe.

President Yoweri Museveni is expected to officially open the three day conference on 3rdMay but sessions will begin on 2nd May. The conference will attract participants from Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganada and Zambia.

While the environmental resources such as forests and wetlands are critical in supporting agriculture which is the backbone of Uganda's economy and also ensures food security, they are being degraded.

Kitutu pointed out that the forest cover has declined from 45% about a central ago to only 11%. The wetlands have also been battered and she pointed out the wetland cover is currently estimated at only 8%.

"What we are doing is to restore the environment," she said. "We have to increase the forest cover from 11% to 18% by the year 2020."

Last week, Kitutu said she was returning from Teso where they were planting trees and creating awareness about the sustainable use of the environment. She said the awareness campaigns would continue countrywide.

In western Uganda, Kitutu said some of the encroachers on wetlands had vacated them voluntarily. She said wetland all encroachers have to vacate by July.

She also pointed out that eastern Uganda that was previously covered with expansive wetlands has drastically lost most of them due to rice growing. In Central Uganda, the wetlands are being settled due to the increasing urbanization.

"Getting titles in wetlands is illegal," she said, adding that the 1995 Constitution outlaws titling of wetlands meaning that wetland titles are illegal.

Kitutu said the meeting was important for Uganda which shares three out of the big seven lakes in the Great Lakes Region. The lakes are Albert, Edward and Victoria. Other lakes in the Great Lakes Region are Kivu, Tanganyika, Turkana and Malawi.

She said the Great Lakes Region covers 850,000 square kilometers with over 50 million people. This, according to Kitutu is remarkable for its biological diversity and life sustaining systems. "It is home to half of Africa's freshwater fish species and thousands of endemic and terrestrial species," she said.

She also pointed out that lakes support diverse industries and investment opportunities in aquaculture, agriculture, hydro-electric power generation, fishing, transportation, urban and industrial development, recreation, mining, oil exploration and tourism.

At the same time, there are threats plaguing the lakes. They include unsustainable fishing, habitat destruction, industrial pollution, and sedimentation caused by deforestation and agriculture.

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