Use energy sustainably, promote tourism

By Gerald Tenywa
As the World commemorates the UN World Tourism Day today under the theme, “Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development” the debate on sustainable development has come home.

This two part theme on tourism and sustainable energy highlights what Ugandans should be debating given that it is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of biodiversity.

However, it is also among the countries whose populations have the lowest access to renewable energy in the world.

At the recently concluded global meeting on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil held under the theme, “Green Economy-the future we want”, the world in the coming years is going to rely less on fossil fuels that powered development in the last century.

The fossil fuels release dangerous emissions such as carbon-dioxide that trap heat escaping from the earth causing global warming.

In addition to this, tourism if well planned emits less waste gases and also creates a multiplier effect in the economy since it creates opportunities for employment in other sectors of the economy.

Grace Aulo, the commissioner for Tourism Development at the Ministry of Tourism, says tourism is one of the top revenue earners to the economy and is one of the engines of sustainable development.

She says Uganda is opposed to mass tourism and promotes tourism based on attracting few but high spending tourists in order to minimise negative impacts on the environment.

“Few but high spending tourists do not have adverse impact on the environment,” says Aulo adding that this is high value tourism, which is also called as eco-tourism that is mindful of conservation of nature and improved livelihood of the people living in the vicinity of the tourism destinations.

Uganda needs to develop sustainable energy sources
Asked how sustainable energy contributes to development, James Baanabe, a commissioner at the Ministry of Energy points out that without increasing access to energy, the economy would stagnate, thus undermining many livelihoods.

He says Uganda’s access to electricity, which now stands at about 10% of the population, is still low.

“If we do not use our energy sustainably we may end up encroaching on the ecologically sensitive areas,” says Baanabe adding that this is likely to endanger animals such as the Mountain gorillas and chimpanzees that are threatened by extinction.

According to Onesmus Mugyenyi, the deputy director for Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) there is a need to create alternative energy sources.

“We do not have alternatives and even in Kampala City where electricity is accessible most people use charcoal for cooking because electricity is too expensive,” says Mugyenyi adding that biomass energy consumption is taking a worrying trend.

Sources of charcoal such as Nakasongola are getting depleted and charcoal burners are shifting to parts of Mubende and Kiboga.

“What will happen if the vegetation in areas that are virgin gets depleted?” asks Mugyenyi.

Currently, all the main roads leading to Kampala City are lined with bags of charcoal some of which is extracted in forest reserves such as Mabira that houses endangered monkeys and birds that attract tourists from the nearby Kampala City.

Energy rich areas in environmentally sensitive areas
As the debate rages concerning shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as electricity, wind and solar power, Uganda has discovered oil.

This is expected to help Uganda to achieve its destiny of achieving a middle income country.

But one key concern Baanabe points out, is that oil in the western arm of the rift valley also called the albertine rift where oil has been discovered, also houses the biggest biological diversity in Africa.

This sets ground for conflict between tourism and extraction of
fossil fuel.

The albertine rift is one of the most ecologically important conservation areas in Africa.

The Nile delta where River Nile enters Lake Albert is one of the richest areas of Murchison Falls National Park, yet it is also suspected to be sitting in the largest reservoirs of oil.

“Where there is oil, is where we have most of Uganda’s wildlife,” says Baanabe. “We have to use technologies that minimise the negative environmental impacts.”

He cited the proposed Karuma hydroelectric power project where a dam is going to be constructed underground and a tunnel constructed to divert water from the Nile in order to generate the power.

The water will be returned downstream to the river, which according to Baanabe will minimise the impacts on wildlife from the nearby Karuma wildlife reserve that neighbours Murchison Falls National Park.

The Tourism commissioner says Uganda’s tourism has been growing in the last decade and is now one of the top foreign exchange earners in the country.

She says Government has been engaging private sector and local communities to benefit in order to build sustainable tourism.

“We want to sustain the resource and that is why we attract few tourists,” says Aulo adding that the country is also concerned about posterity.

Apart from wildlife tourism, Aulo says culture is also being harnessed in order to diversify Uganda’s products, but also channel more revenue going into the pockets of local people.

“We want more money to remain in the economy,” she says.

As Uganda moves from a Less Developed Country to a middle income economy, there is need to protect the catchment areas that provide water for electricity generation for powering industrialisation.

It is also important to diversify tourism and share benefits with local communities.

This calls for re-thinking of the country’s strategies, strengthening of institutions and allocating more money to energy development, environment conservation (sustainable use of nature) and tourism development.