The government of Uganda, through the Minister of Water and Environment, Samuel Cheptoris, has called upon Ugandans to make mindful choices and coordinated actions to reverse wetland pollution.
He made the remarks on January 31, 2024, while addressing the media at the Uganda Media Centre ahead of the World Wetlands Day to be celebrated on February 2, 2024, under the theme “Wetlands and Human Well-being” which Uganda will celebrate from Kaunda Grounds in Gulu city.
The Minister emphasised that wetland conservation leads to multiple benefits and nature-based solutions that provide for human well-being and a healthy planet.
“Join the national efforts to conserve and sustainably manage wetlands since every day, wetlands are damaged by human beings through unsustainable agricultural practices, drainage, and infilling,” Minister Cheptoris noted.
According to Chepotoris, the government has made timely, concerted efforts over the last 30 years at various national levels to ensure the conservation and wise use of wetland resources.
He further added that the decisions to scale up actions on wetland conservation include cancelling wetland titles, restoring degraded wetlands, and strengthening compliance monitoring.
He called upon the country to join the national efforts to conserve and sustainably manage wetlands by taking part in wetland restoration efforts locally and restoring lost and degraded wetlands to revive the rich biodiversity and life found in life-sustaining ecosystems.
Chepotoris also stated that the decline caused concern and that drastic measures had to be undertaken to avert further decline. He outlined the measures as the creation of the Environment Protection Police Unit, wetland restoration programmes, and massive public awareness, among others.
He noted that, as the wetland coverage was estimated at 13% of Uganda’s surface area in 2015, only 8.9% of this was intact, while 9,885 square kilometres were under some form of degradation.
Currently, wetlands in Uganda cover a total surface area of 3,762.6 square kilometres, which is 13.9%, with a notable increase of 0.9% from 13% in 2021 to 13.9% in 2023.
