Bamboo to revive Nakivubo swamp
THE Wetlands Inspection Division and Uganda Prisons Services have begun cultivating bamboo at Murchison Bay prison at Luzira to help clean up the heavily polluted Nakivubo swamp near the prison.<br>
By Gerald Tenywa
THE Wetlands Inspection Division and Uganda Prisons Services have begun cultivating bamboo at Murchison Bay prison at Luzira to help clean up the heavily polluted Nakivubo swamp near the prison.
The idea to cultivate bamboo was recently mooted by the World Agro forestry Centre (ICRAF).
The bamboo will also help the poor urban communities earn an income. The bamboo will be used as raw material for making various handicrafts.
The “mother garden’’ is expected to act as a centre of multiplication of the large species of bamboo before it can be expanded into the swamp.
“It is a good filter because it removes wastes from water,’’ says Levand Tumuryomurugyendo, ICRAF’s biological diversity expert.
In China it is applied to clean the polluted water and it also serves as a raw material for the immensely valuable handicrafts, herbal soap and charcoal, Tumuryomurugyendo says.
He says bamboo is a lucrative handicraft industry, which includes garden chairs and various souvenirs, but not much is known about it in Uganda.
It is also used to manufacture floor tiles and also forms part of the huge processed food industry.
“China earns more than $600m annually from the export of bamboo products. China’s bamboo industry is estimated at $12b, a value that is almost double the GDP of the three East African states,’’ according to a report entitled “Bambo for eco-sanitation in wetlands and income generation around Lake Victoriaâ€. It was presented at the exhibition of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands at Speke Resort Munyonyo were recently.
The massive encroachment on the swamp has exposed Lake Victoria to danger. Despite the contribution of Lake Victoria ecosystem towards the well being and livelihoods of more than 30 million people of the three east African countries, the lake is currently described as the “dying lake.†This is because of pollution described by the ICRAF report as eutrophication and sedimentation.
These are consequences of increased nutrient inputs originating from agricultural activities, industrial effluents and domestic wastewater discharged in the degraded wetlands, according to the ICRAF report.
Natural filtration by the reeds and papyrus has been hampered by destruction of the wetlands through drainage for agriculture, industries and residential premises.
Kampala City Council and the National Environment Management Authority have been threatening to evict the encroachers from the swamp for the last three years.
However, the encroachers from Namuwongo, Kifumbira in Kamwokya, Bweyogerere who grow yams in Nakivubo have refused to barge.
The ICRAF report says bamboo could be a superior land use system to the vegetables that are reportedly health hazards due to accumulation of heavy metals.
Bamboo is a promising alternative because it absorbs nutrients that cause pollution.
Bamboo growing at Murchison Prison started two months ago when over 200 plants of bamboo were imported from Kenya.
Some artistans have already made good use of the plantation.
Representatives at the convention were so overwhelmed by crafts of Jackson Sinini, an artiste, they placed many orders.
Nakivubo swamp is one of the wetlands that were picked to showcase the successful story of wetland conservation in the country under at the Ramsar meeting.
Though bamboo grows very fast, the experiment is still in its early stages. The researchers are also looking at the aspects of water uptake by bamboo since it grows very fast, however, Tumuryomurugyendo says it is not much different from papyrus and reeds.
THE Wetlands Inspection Division and Uganda Prisons Services have begun cultivating bamboo at Murchison Bay prison at Luzira to help clean up the heavily polluted Nakivubo swamp near the prison.
The idea to cultivate bamboo was recently mooted by the World Agro forestry Centre (ICRAF).
The bamboo will also help the poor urban communities earn an income. The bamboo will be used as raw material for making various handicrafts.
The “mother garden’’ is expected to act as a centre of multiplication of the large species of bamboo before it can be expanded into the swamp.
“It is a good filter because it removes wastes from water,’’ says Levand Tumuryomurugyendo, ICRAF’s biological diversity expert.
In China it is applied to clean the polluted water and it also serves as a raw material for the immensely valuable handicrafts, herbal soap and charcoal, Tumuryomurugyendo says.
He says bamboo is a lucrative handicraft industry, which includes garden chairs and various souvenirs, but not much is known about it in Uganda.
It is also used to manufacture floor tiles and also forms part of the huge processed food industry.
“China earns more than $600m annually from the export of bamboo products. China’s bamboo industry is estimated at $12b, a value that is almost double the GDP of the three East African states,’’ according to a report entitled “Bambo for eco-sanitation in wetlands and income generation around Lake Victoriaâ€. It was presented at the exhibition of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands at Speke Resort Munyonyo were recently.
The massive encroachment on the swamp has exposed Lake Victoria to danger. Despite the contribution of Lake Victoria ecosystem towards the well being and livelihoods of more than 30 million people of the three east African countries, the lake is currently described as the “dying lake.†This is because of pollution described by the ICRAF report as eutrophication and sedimentation.
These are consequences of increased nutrient inputs originating from agricultural activities, industrial effluents and domestic wastewater discharged in the degraded wetlands, according to the ICRAF report.
Natural filtration by the reeds and papyrus has been hampered by destruction of the wetlands through drainage for agriculture, industries and residential premises.
Kampala City Council and the National Environment Management Authority have been threatening to evict the encroachers from the swamp for the last three years.
However, the encroachers from Namuwongo, Kifumbira in Kamwokya, Bweyogerere who grow yams in Nakivubo have refused to barge.
The ICRAF report says bamboo could be a superior land use system to the vegetables that are reportedly health hazards due to accumulation of heavy metals.
Bamboo is a promising alternative because it absorbs nutrients that cause pollution.
Bamboo growing at Murchison Prison started two months ago when over 200 plants of bamboo were imported from Kenya.
Some artistans have already made good use of the plantation.
Representatives at the convention were so overwhelmed by crafts of Jackson Sinini, an artiste, they placed many orders.
Nakivubo swamp is one of the wetlands that were picked to showcase the successful story of wetland conservation in the country under at the Ramsar meeting.
Though bamboo grows very fast, the experiment is still in its early stages. The researchers are also looking at the aspects of water uptake by bamboo since it grows very fast, however, Tumuryomurugyendo says it is not much different from papyrus and reeds.