Ugandan lake drying up
Jul 30, 2010
RESIDENTS of Kaliro district have never stopped following the 911-square kilometre Lake Nakuwa even as it threatens to disappear. They have cultivated every inch of the receding shoreline due to population pressure.
RESIDENTS of Kaliro district have never stopped following the 911-square kilometre Lake Nakuwa even as it threatens to disappear. They have cultivated every inch of the receding shoreline due to population pressure. Gerald Tenywa recently discovered what the country is losing.
At the edge of Lake Nakuwa, different birds and reptiles gathered as though they had been invited to a grand reception.
Barefoot with water up to his knees, 30-year-old Richard Makoma kept shouting at the predating birds. “Go away; don’t you have food in the lake?†Unable to discourage them from taking part of his catch, Makoma lifts his tiny fish and walked away.
Although the fish looks emaciated compared to that harvested elsewhere, Makoma says life is better in the shore village of Nangala in Nawaikoke sub-county than in his sun-baked ancestral village, a few kilometres from Kaliro town.
When the cultivators are preparing the fields, the place is burnt up. This, according to the district environment officer, Scovia Nakawuma, has become normal during the dry season.
As a result, most land has been left without trees and has become barren. She says the search for productive land has pushed more people into the swamps, which are still fertile. This has exposed the wetlands and they have dried up.
“The lake shoreline has retreated by more than 200 metres within one year,†says Nakawuma.
As the lake recedes, it leaves behind millions of dead creatures like frogs, reptiles and tiny silver fish, which birds feast on. Farmers like 70-year-old Clement Waiswa have discovered that the dry lake bed is fertile and is like a new-found ‘Garden of Eden.’ They are following the receding shoreline of the lake with maize and paddy rice gardens.
“It was not possible to walk in this place five years ago,†says Benon Mugabo, a traditional fish guard (Gabunga). “Fishermen used canoes to come and fish, but now it has become farmland.â€`
He says the lake has been shrinking and expanding following the dry and wet seasons. But last year, Mugabo says, the change was dramatic. “The shoreline receded by half a kilometre and the swamp vegetation dried up because of drought.
Makoma’s ancestors named the lake ‘Nakuwa’, which means “a gift from God.†But there is little to show that they appreciate the gift. They have not only failed to keep it as a treasure but they have also accelerated its destruction. They catch undersized fish and destroy the shoreline cover.
To the conservationists, Nakuwa is like a ‘living museum’ because it has rare fish, which has become extinct in the nearby Lake Kyoga. It was hoped that Nakuwa would provide fish to restock Lake Kyoga.
“The breeding grounds for fish are destroyed every time the shoreline of L. Nakuwa retreats,†says Nakawuma.
According to Achilles Byaruhanga, the director of Nature Uganda, Nakuwa is priceless because it is home to endemic (restricted to a small geographical area) birds. It is also a habitat to migratory birds that escape winter in Europe to warmer countries.
“While attention is put on Nile Perch in large lakes like Victoria, important native fish in smaller lakes is disappearing,†says Vincent Barugahare, an officer at the wetlands management department.
Four years ago, the global community declared Nakuwa as Ramsar Site, as a wetland of international importance.
Efforts to restrict human activities and promote good use of the lake have started.
Nakawuma says by the time the shore of a lake retreats, it means the destruction of its catchment area has been taking place for long and goes beyond the immediate surroundings of the lake.
She says the receding shoreline sums up the unfolding environmental crisis in eastern Uganda. She says the plight of the lake is tied to two rivers, Lumbuye and Mpologoma. “When the rivers bring in a lot of water, Nakuwa stays alive,†she says.
She adds that there is growing pressure on the wetlands forming the ecological systems of the two rivers. “We suspect that more soil enters Nakuwa than water. Because droughts and barren soils, people are growing rice and maize in the wetlands as the only way for survival.â€
In the absence of the swamp vegetation, the filtration capacity of Namatala, Lumbuye and Mpologoma is vanishing, leading to soil erosion and clogging of Nakuwa. This, Nakawuma says, has also encouraged weeds previously unknown to grow in the wetlands, to thrive.
Nakuwa is shallow, with an average depth of three metres. Many water experts say the lake will disappear in a few years if silting is not controlled.
The rivers in eastern Uganda are facing diversion and reclamation before they deliver water to the surrounding lakes, according to the report entitled “Pilot Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Lake Kyoga Catchment Area.†Other lakes, according to the report, that are undergoing silting include Opeta, Bisina, Kwania, Nawampasa, and Kyoga.
The authorities are trying to save the lakes by advising farmers to cultivate 100 metres away from the shore.
Without such intervention, people like Makoma will cling on to the lake as a drowning man clutches on to straw.
When the lake goes, their livelihood will go down with it. So will the thousands of species.
At the edge of Lake Nakuwa, different birds and reptiles gathered as though they had been invited to a grand reception.
Barefoot with water up to his knees, 30-year-old Richard Makoma kept shouting at the predating birds. “Go away; don’t you have food in the lake?†Unable to discourage them from taking part of his catch, Makoma lifts his tiny fish and walked away.
Although the fish looks emaciated compared to that harvested elsewhere, Makoma says life is better in the shore village of Nangala in Nawaikoke sub-county than in his sun-baked ancestral village, a few kilometres from Kaliro town.
When the cultivators are preparing the fields, the place is burnt up. This, according to the district environment officer, Scovia Nakawuma, has become normal during the dry season.
As a result, most land has been left without trees and has become barren. She says the search for productive land has pushed more people into the swamps, which are still fertile. This has exposed the wetlands and they have dried up.
“The lake shoreline has retreated by more than 200 metres within one year,†says Nakawuma.
As the lake recedes, it leaves behind millions of dead creatures like frogs, reptiles and tiny silver fish, which birds feast on. Farmers like 70-year-old Clement Waiswa have discovered that the dry lake bed is fertile and is like a new-found ‘Garden of Eden.’ They are following the receding shoreline of the lake with maize and paddy rice gardens.
“It was not possible to walk in this place five years ago,†says Benon Mugabo, a traditional fish guard (Gabunga). “Fishermen used canoes to come and fish, but now it has become farmland.â€`
He says the lake has been shrinking and expanding following the dry and wet seasons. But last year, Mugabo says, the change was dramatic. “The shoreline receded by half a kilometre and the swamp vegetation dried up because of drought.
Makoma’s ancestors named the lake ‘Nakuwa’, which means “a gift from God.†But there is little to show that they appreciate the gift. They have not only failed to keep it as a treasure but they have also accelerated its destruction. They catch undersized fish and destroy the shoreline cover.
To the conservationists, Nakuwa is like a ‘living museum’ because it has rare fish, which has become extinct in the nearby Lake Kyoga. It was hoped that Nakuwa would provide fish to restock Lake Kyoga.
“The breeding grounds for fish are destroyed every time the shoreline of L. Nakuwa retreats,†says Nakawuma.
According to Achilles Byaruhanga, the director of Nature Uganda, Nakuwa is priceless because it is home to endemic (restricted to a small geographical area) birds. It is also a habitat to migratory birds that escape winter in Europe to warmer countries.
“While attention is put on Nile Perch in large lakes like Victoria, important native fish in smaller lakes is disappearing,†says Vincent Barugahare, an officer at the wetlands management department.
Four years ago, the global community declared Nakuwa as Ramsar Site, as a wetland of international importance.
Efforts to restrict human activities and promote good use of the lake have started.
Nakawuma says by the time the shore of a lake retreats, it means the destruction of its catchment area has been taking place for long and goes beyond the immediate surroundings of the lake.
She says the receding shoreline sums up the unfolding environmental crisis in eastern Uganda. She says the plight of the lake is tied to two rivers, Lumbuye and Mpologoma. “When the rivers bring in a lot of water, Nakuwa stays alive,†she says.
She adds that there is growing pressure on the wetlands forming the ecological systems of the two rivers. “We suspect that more soil enters Nakuwa than water. Because droughts and barren soils, people are growing rice and maize in the wetlands as the only way for survival.â€
In the absence of the swamp vegetation, the filtration capacity of Namatala, Lumbuye and Mpologoma is vanishing, leading to soil erosion and clogging of Nakuwa. This, Nakawuma says, has also encouraged weeds previously unknown to grow in the wetlands, to thrive.
Nakuwa is shallow, with an average depth of three metres. Many water experts say the lake will disappear in a few years if silting is not controlled.
The rivers in eastern Uganda are facing diversion and reclamation before they deliver water to the surrounding lakes, according to the report entitled “Pilot Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Lake Kyoga Catchment Area.†Other lakes, according to the report, that are undergoing silting include Opeta, Bisina, Kwania, Nawampasa, and Kyoga.
The authorities are trying to save the lakes by advising farmers to cultivate 100 metres away from the shore.
Without such intervention, people like Makoma will cling on to the lake as a drowning man clutches on to straw.
When the lake goes, their livelihood will go down with it. So will the thousands of species.