East African Gazette
Kampala
The Government of Uganda is making every effort to address the Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution the Minister of water and environment Sam Cheptoris has said.
Joseph Ouma, former Presidential Photographer and award winner of the HIV/ Aids positive living proposal of Mother Jones Foundation retired planting a tree in Masinya village,Masinya subcounty in Busia district currently championing green environment to preserve green economy.Photo by Wedundwe Sanya
Cheptoris made the remarks while addressing a press conference 14 May at the Uganda Media Centre in regard to the commemoration of the
International World Environment Day to be held on 5 June.
World Environment Day was declared in 1972 during the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and Development in Stockholm, and has been held annually since 1974.
On this day member states reflect and reaffirm commitment towards protection of the environment and sustainable environmental management.
Cheptoris said over the years, World Environment Day has grown to be a global platform for public outreach and environmental awareness on the environmental dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals.
He said this year, global World Environment Day celebrations will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the theme “Land restoration,
desertification and drought resilience.”
He said the theme calls for agent action needed to restore degraded landscapes to protect the vital ecosystem services that these landscapes provide.
Uganda will commemorate World Environment Day 2024 under the theme “Land Restoration for Climate Resilience” and Sironko District in
Eastern Uganda has been selected to host the national celebrations.
The theme in line with the Government’s Ten Year Plan of Action for Restoration of the Environment and Natural Resources in Uganda
(2021-2031), the National Vision 2024 and the National Development Plan, he said.
“We shall continue to encourage planting native trees in deforested areas to restore forest cover, improve carbon sequestration, and enhance biodiversity. Forest cover loss in Uganda has been reversed from 9.5% in 2015 to 13.3% today “he revealed.
He added they will promote Integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural landscapes to improve soil fertility, reduce erosion, and increase biodiversity “he said.
He noted that there is a continued rehabilitation of degraded wetlands to improve water filtration, increase biodiversity, and buffer against
floods and droughts remains our top priority.
“Enforcement operations continue nationally and with these efforts, our wetland cover has appreciated from 8.9% in 2019 to now 9.3% of
national land surface”, he added.
We continue to promote constructing of steps on slopes to reduce soil erosion and runoff, making hillside farming sustainable in areas like
Kigezi, Elgon, and Rwenzori, he asserted.
The Lake Victoria Basin Commission reports that in May 2020, the water level in Lake Victoria reached a new record of 13.42 meters, above the
13.41 meters recorded in 1964.
And today
The farmers will be encouraged to promote rotational grazing systems to prevent overgrazing and allow vegetation to recover, improving soil
health and carbon storage,he added.
He explained that Uganda has recovered most of the wildlife populations that almost went into extinction.Elephants, Kobs, Hippos, Buffaloes, Zebras among others, are all increasing.
He urged the community continue tree planting especially of native species in farmlands, stabilization of slopes and protection of riverbanks and Lakeshores to prevent sedimentation and land degradation.
Government will hold Media engagements on radio and TV both at national and regional level to raise awareness about environment
degradation and Climate Change Engagements.
Recently the Leader of Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi noted the rising water levels at Lake Victoria as a justification for asking the government to inform Ugandans about its preparedness to prevent the inevitable occurrence of the climatic catastrophe occurring in Kenya and Tanzania, should it reach Uganda.
Ssenyonyi said in “In 2018, the government had come up with the mooting the idea of the Disaster Management Bill, We can should bring it is a private member’s bill so that we have a proper mechanism”.
Statistics on environment
According to the Uganda Bureaus of Statistics (UBOS) 2021 the country’s Forest cover reduced significantly by 60.4 percent between 1990 and 2015.And the woodlands cover declined to 12,391 sq km in 2017 from 28,347 sq km in 2000.Over 528,593 (99.8%) hectares of the total forest is under Central Forest Reserve and 1,002 under Local Forest Reserve.
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