Cattle corridor hit by harsh climate changes
THE increase of temperatures by 0.3ºC in Ankole cattle corridor has led to drought in the area. More than half the water sources have dried up. The pastures and over 70% of boreholes in the area have dried up too!
By Ebenezer Bifubyeka
THE increase of temperatures by 0.3ºC in Ankole cattle corridor has led to drought in the area. More than half the water sources have dried up. The pastures and over 70% of boreholes in the area have dried up too!
“I have sold off half of my cows because there are no pastures to feed them. I feared losing all my 40 head of cattle and sold off half of them. I don’t understand what is happening,†says Morris Katwiine, a cattle keeper in Mbarara.
Katwiine, a farmer at Sanga, in Kiruhuura district, says although the area is dry, his hope is resurfacing over the newly formed large and clean stagnant water bodies in the area, which most farmers mistake as lakes.
Ten months ago, ‘Lake Kayanja’ was formed just after Lyantonde, along the Mbarara highway. This water body – that seems to be the farmers’ rescue – has resulted from the back flowing of the valleys during the re-construction of the Masaka-Mbarara highway.
According to Festus Bagora, a water and soils specialist, although a few other water bodies have been formed in the same grazing area, they are temporary. To him, such water bodies are short-lived because they sit on silt eroded from surrounding hilltops, where pastures have been over-grazed and trees massively harvested by charcoal burners. Bagora says pastures on the degraded hilltops continue to dry regardless of the presence of rainfall because the runoff that forms new water bodies comes downhill with fertile soils.
More so, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA)’s western regional public and educational awareness officer, Jeconious Musingwire points out that the new water bodies will dry soon.
“Once the blocked natural drainage is opened after the installation of culverts on the road under reconstruction, the water will flow and finally dry up.â€
Musingwire says the cause of climate change in Ankole cattle corridor has been influenced by the encroachment on fragile ecosystems of wetlands and deforestation on hilltops within the corridor.
Ankole cattle corridor is comprised of Karagwe in north-western Tanzania and Isingiro, Mbarara, Kiruhuura, Sembabule, Rakai, Kyoga, Nakasongola, Moroto and Kotido districts in Uganda.
Musingwire says the prevailing change of climate in the Ankole cattle corridor is more than environmental degradation.
He adds that it has been supplemented by the expected continuation of near average sea surface temperatures over the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean.
“Those breezes are warm and there are no high hills to condense them.
The warm breezes fail to be intercepted by the raised topography to allow condensation and precipitation to occur in that area,†he explains.
The Ministry of Water and Environment’s documentary entitled, Climate Change: Uganda National Adaptation Programmes of Action 2007 states that: “Forests can modulate the climate of such an area through micro-climate.â€
Micro-climate is the improvement of humidity around the wetlands and forests as witnessed by the presence of dew in the morning. This phenomenon is experienced today due to change of the climate.
“The Virunga tropical forest in Congo, Karinju, Maramagambo and East Kasyoha Kitomi tropical high forests in western Uganda influence the region’s climate.
Therefore, forests play an important role in moderating climate as they contribute highly in the hydrological cycle of the area,†says the report.
Commenting on the dried boreholes in Ankole cattle corridor, the principal meteorology officer, department of meteorology in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Steven Magezi, blames the borehole constructors for not first consulting the water hydrologists on the climate parameter trend over time.
However, Magezi who is also the representative of the World Meteorological Organisation, says the problem of climate change is more external than internal.
“Poor countries are the most hit by the effects of global carbon emissions. We are not demanding aid from developed countries but they should pay for what their activities have led us to,†he says.
He added that the effective solution to the worsening climate is for the Government to engage climate change related programmes in everything it does.
THE increase of temperatures by 0.3ºC in Ankole cattle corridor has led to drought in the area. More than half the water sources have dried up. The pastures and over 70% of boreholes in the area have dried up too!
“I have sold off half of my cows because there are no pastures to feed them. I feared losing all my 40 head of cattle and sold off half of them. I don’t understand what is happening,†says Morris Katwiine, a cattle keeper in Mbarara.
Katwiine, a farmer at Sanga, in Kiruhuura district, says although the area is dry, his hope is resurfacing over the newly formed large and clean stagnant water bodies in the area, which most farmers mistake as lakes.
Ten months ago, ‘Lake Kayanja’ was formed just after Lyantonde, along the Mbarara highway. This water body – that seems to be the farmers’ rescue – has resulted from the back flowing of the valleys during the re-construction of the Masaka-Mbarara highway.
According to Festus Bagora, a water and soils specialist, although a few other water bodies have been formed in the same grazing area, they are temporary. To him, such water bodies are short-lived because they sit on silt eroded from surrounding hilltops, where pastures have been over-grazed and trees massively harvested by charcoal burners. Bagora says pastures on the degraded hilltops continue to dry regardless of the presence of rainfall because the runoff that forms new water bodies comes downhill with fertile soils.
More so, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA)’s western regional public and educational awareness officer, Jeconious Musingwire points out that the new water bodies will dry soon.
“Once the blocked natural drainage is opened after the installation of culverts on the road under reconstruction, the water will flow and finally dry up.â€
Musingwire says the cause of climate change in Ankole cattle corridor has been influenced by the encroachment on fragile ecosystems of wetlands and deforestation on hilltops within the corridor.
Ankole cattle corridor is comprised of Karagwe in north-western Tanzania and Isingiro, Mbarara, Kiruhuura, Sembabule, Rakai, Kyoga, Nakasongola, Moroto and Kotido districts in Uganda.
Musingwire says the prevailing change of climate in the Ankole cattle corridor is more than environmental degradation.
He adds that it has been supplemented by the expected continuation of near average sea surface temperatures over the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean.
“Those breezes are warm and there are no high hills to condense them.
The warm breezes fail to be intercepted by the raised topography to allow condensation and precipitation to occur in that area,†he explains.
The Ministry of Water and Environment’s documentary entitled, Climate Change: Uganda National Adaptation Programmes of Action 2007 states that: “Forests can modulate the climate of such an area through micro-climate.â€
Micro-climate is the improvement of humidity around the wetlands and forests as witnessed by the presence of dew in the morning. This phenomenon is experienced today due to change of the climate.
“The Virunga tropical forest in Congo, Karinju, Maramagambo and East Kasyoha Kitomi tropical high forests in western Uganda influence the region’s climate.
Therefore, forests play an important role in moderating climate as they contribute highly in the hydrological cycle of the area,†says the report.
Commenting on the dried boreholes in Ankole cattle corridor, the principal meteorology officer, department of meteorology in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Steven Magezi, blames the borehole constructors for not first consulting the water hydrologists on the climate parameter trend over time.
However, Magezi who is also the representative of the World Meteorological Organisation, says the problem of climate change is more external than internal.
“Poor countries are the most hit by the effects of global carbon emissions. We are not demanding aid from developed countries but they should pay for what their activities have led us to,†he says.
He added that the effective solution to the worsening climate is for the Government to engage climate change related programmes in everything it does.