Bio-Diversity Under Threat
Apr 14, 2003
UGANDA’s biological wealth is under serious threat with an increased rate of destruction from 10% to 15% per decade, leading to a decline in food security, a recent report has said.
By Vision Reporter
UGANDA’s biological wealth is under serious threat with an increased rate of destruction from 10% to 15% per decade, leading to a decline in food security, a recent report has said.
This rate of loss of bio-diversity (variety of life forms) was referred to as “high,†by the report released by the Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources.
The report entitled; “The State of Uganda’s Biological Diversity 2002,’’ says the forests, soils and wildlife located outside protected areas are in danger.
Agricultural land and urban areas were singled out in the report as areas where the destruction of biological diversity occurs.
While there is a catastrophic decline of large mammals, the wildlife within protected areas is comparatively well, said the report.
The rampant loss of soil and climatic changes, which are results of environmental degradation, create unreliable conditions for crops affecting agriculture ultimately.
The degradation of biological resources undermines the tourism potential, the availability of medicinal plants and the wellbeing of the human population.
The report quoted the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as saying that roughly 37% of the biological diversity in eastern Africa had declined in the last three decades.
Makerere was funded by Ecotrust to compile the report, which also indicates that some of the species of fish confined to Lake Victoria have become globally extinct.
Ends
UGANDA’s biological wealth is under serious threat with an increased rate of destruction from 10% to 15% per decade, leading to a decline in food security, a recent report has said.
This rate of loss of bio-diversity (variety of life forms) was referred to as “high,†by the report released by the Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources.
The report entitled; “The State of Uganda’s Biological Diversity 2002,’’ says the forests, soils and wildlife located outside protected areas are in danger.
Agricultural land and urban areas were singled out in the report as areas where the destruction of biological diversity occurs.
While there is a catastrophic decline of large mammals, the wildlife within protected areas is comparatively well, said the report.
The rampant loss of soil and climatic changes, which are results of environmental degradation, create unreliable conditions for crops affecting agriculture ultimately.
The degradation of biological resources undermines the tourism potential, the availability of medicinal plants and the wellbeing of the human population.
The report quoted the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as saying that roughly 37% of the biological diversity in eastern Africa had declined in the last three decades.
Makerere was funded by Ecotrust to compile the report, which also indicates that some of the species of fish confined to Lake Victoria have become globally extinct.
Ends