During the eviction of people from Lubigi swamp, I saw someone on TV as well demanding the eviction of the rice project in Lwera. I would like everyone to share this article in order to demystify the myth about that project.
Recently,the bursting of Katonga river was not caused by the growing of rice as alleged by everyone including academicians and environmental activitists,but in actual sense the swelling waters was caused by climate change which is the wearing away of the land surface by action of natural forces such as wind,water and ice. Actually some one would say that the planting of rice qualifies as plant with purpose project which can mitigate climate change like floods because rice reduces the intensity of the amount of water in the swamp.
For the case of Palm tree growing in Kalangala district where over 1850 households have tremendously changed, has helped many to improve the lives of people in the islands which were previously depending on the lake for survival. I would therefore like to inform the negators of that project to stop confusions which curtails development. For starters, deforestation is the permanent destruction of trees,which is not the case with palm trees because they cut trees and replace with other plant trees which can be termed as Reforestation.
Additionally, the reasons why deforestation is dangerous is because it disrupts the water cycle where trees which are supposed to absorb water from the soil to the atmosphere to create rain water of the water cycle are no more! Which is not the case here, because palm trees are also Plants with purpose.
What is plants with purpose is a transformational Development approach that brings together environmental restoration, and ECONOMIC empowerment for our communities which government should hype and promote.
Our people should also know that the number one cause of environmental degradation is poverty, and that’s why President Yoweri Kaguta Museven is always using different approaches like PDM,YLP,Emyooga, UPE,USE,free Skilling etc in order to stop only working for stomach but also get an income to support households expenses.He is always encouraging the Bazukkulu to join 4 sectors which include industry, services, ICT,and Agriculture. I thank the Office of NRM National Chairman headed by Hajjat Hadijah Uzeiye for always leading the efforts of amplifying President’s wealth creation messages. If we take up his message, we shall be mitigating climate change.
Poverty causes environmental degradation because people living in poverty often experience hunger and food insecurity which lead to over exploitation of natural resources like trees which are frequently harvested to turn into charcoal a product that can be sold for quick cash. This can lead to deforestation, air pollution etc. Similary Poverty can cause environmental degradation in other ways because it can lead to lack of access to education with knowledge about environmental conservation.
The reason why NEMA,a government agency that protects the environment was justified to evict people in Lubigi wetland is because their human activity involves destroying the plant cover by dumping soils which furthers soil erosion.This removes the swamps that filter poisonous chemicals in water that makes NWSC incur higher costs of water treatment hence increasing the cost of living.
In conclusion, we should be slow to fault people with projects like Hotels on the shore lines,like the one of Rajiv Ruparelia of Speke hotels in Gaba which have passed the Environment Impact Assessment by NEMA because they employ multitudes of people on small sizeable land who would endanger the environment on large scale through human activity. Similarly it hurt me seeing natives of Bushenyi demonizing a hotel development by their own yet they lack jobs. We have to balance between Human Activity and Nature in order to survive that’s why oil projects like crude oil pipeline, the refinery are very crucial in fighting poverty which is the trouble causer of environmental degradation. That’s why such projects get EIA in order to minimize their effect on environment.
Ben Ssebuguzi is the Head of Research Office Office of the National Chairman of NRM-Kyambogo.
ssebuguziben09@gmail
0751811286
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