Last Updated on: 13th February 2023, 10:36 am
Climate change is a big global issue that has for decades left weaker nations struggling to cope up with its threatening effects.
It (climate change) is defined as a global phenomenon of climate transformation characterized by the changes in the usual climate of the planet that affects human activities.
Uganda, like any other nation in the world is affected by the effects of climate change after most of its wetlands, for example have been depleted.
Amid such bad practice, Uganda government is trying to mitigate it as pressure from climate change activists and politicians rise.
In a message sent last week, Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) applauded the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Natural Resources for its intervention to save Lwera swamp.
Lwera bog which is located along Kampala-Masaka road has had three companies doing sand mining.
The companies have, however, been suspended with immediate effect.
“This should be an eye-opener for the government and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) that all is not going on well with our environment and it’s necessary to protect it,” UPC spokesperson Arach Oyat Sharon said.
Arach added that as a country, we have a big challenge to preserve the environment at a time when climate change issues are threatening the entire globe.
“Lwera swamp lands are part of the Lake Victoria-Nile basin and this basin extends into the Great Lakes Region. Anything that destroys or degrades Lwera swamp lands affects a greater ecosystem and the consequences are very difficult to handle.”
UPC has been at the forefront of calling upon the NRM government to restore water catchment areas across the country to minimise on the effects of climate change due to manmade activities.
For instance, swamp lands like Lwera, according to UPC are huge reservoirs of water that directly pours into Lake Victoria and have a moderating influence on weather and climate which contributes to rainfall thus leading to agricultural activities.
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“Swamps are a home for various types of fish and fish is a key source of proteins. They are a home for various types of herbs, which are of great medicinal value and helping to cure a lot of different types of ailments.”
“They are a home for various types of animals, birds and insects, and a mainstay of handcraft industry, especially the manufacture of mats and baskets. So the local economy depends heavily on swamp lands.”
Speaking further, she said any sand mining and rice growing that is not well thought of in such wetlands certainly creates more and more challenges which are very difficult to deal with.
Environmental damage or degradation affects our food security, local economies and livelihoods of various families. Our flora and fauna gets extinct from the environment and this creates more ecologistical disasters.
As a country, Arach urged that we need to focus beyond Lwera swamp lands and save the entire country from environmental degradation.
“It is now time for environmentalists to be fully supported and to carry economic activities that supportive to our day to day lives.”