NEWS- The Rukungiri Deputy Resident Commissioner Ongom Wilberforce Ahimbisibwe has asked Ugandans where ever they are to heed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni call to restore and protect the wetlands in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
Deputy RDC made the remarks on October 17th 2024 while presiding over the occasion to launch the demarcation and restoration if River Ntungwa Wetlands in Bwambara Sub County in Rukungiri District where he said that it a patriotic call to restore and protect the wetlands.
The Deputy RDC said that mother nature has been tampered with and that’s why there are landslides and floods that have claimed several people in the area and asked the people to vacate the wetlands willing because whose who will do so will be given alternative means of getting income like rearing goats, fish farming and bee hives.
He however called for active participation of the community members, political leaders, environmental experts and other relevant stakeholders like the media to ensure that the wetland restoration becomes successful in order to ensure its biodiversity enrichment.
Rukungiri District Local Government has since received support from Ministry of Water and Environment, Green Climate Change and United Nations Development Programme and identified main threats to wetland ecosystems that include pollution and habitat destruction which have been earmarked for restoration in Ruhinda, Nyakishenyi, Bugangari, Nyarushanje – Kebisoni and Bwambara Sub counties.
In Bwambara Sub County alone, the restoration of 450 hectares of Ntungwa Wetland along Ntungwa River is underway and this includes the restoration of 400 hectares of degraded catchment area adjacent to the wetland.
According to Rukungiri District Senior Environmental Officer Ms Caroline Mbabazi, over 200 women who formerly depended on wetland use in Bwambara have been supported by offering them either on farm or off farm livelihoods options to enhance their economic stability.
The farmers have also been given assorted improved seed varieties where 65 female farmers were encouraged to engage in promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
Ms Mbabazi said that the district has developed and implemented an environmental and social management plan (ESMP) for project investment sites that had been excluded from the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIAs) which ongoing.
While speaking at the same event Rukungiri District LC 5 Chairman Geoffrey Kyomukama said that the government is willing to support all the people who have been affected by the restoration of the wetlands in the District.
Kyomukama called on the local residents to practice modern farming methods like provision of terraces in their gardens that preserves the soils for future generations.
He notes that, whereas the population is ever increasing, the soil have remained constant and therefore it’s from this background that the people must preserve the land they have and also learn to tap water on their roof tops and use it for their benefits.
The Rukungiri District Chief Administrative Officer Wasswa Musokoyi said that the restoration of wetlands was a deliberate process to take proper measures of mitigating climate change and asked the technical team to sensitise the people on how best they can use their land.
The CAO warned the District Extension officials who have neglected their duties, to style up and reach out to the the farmers and guide them on proper farming methods that will yield into bumper harvests that can improve their livelihood incomes.
Speaking at the function, Isaac Kaharuuza the Political Assistant to Rujumbura Constituency Member of Parliament Hon Jim Muhwezi assured the people that their concerns that include poor roads and low clean water provisions have been taken care of and will be worked on.
The meeting was attended by District leaders who included Bwambara District Councillor Gideon Ntungura and the Secretary for Production and Marketing Micheal, residents of the newly created Kyabahanga Parish, the Bwambara Sub County leaders led by Chris Kagayano and the District leaders.
Kagayano hailed the government for the provision of social services and assured that the people have been sensitized about the wetland restoration which they will support entirely.
