nezer T. Bifubyeka (Ten)Mbarara, Western Uganda.
AS things fall apart in National Social Security Fund or NSSF, people are losing jobs, reputation, respect and trust. Watching from a distance, we are unearthing our leaders’ deeds that carry dangerous impacts on the environment and our lives.
Let no one claim to be patriotic without being passionate to the environment – the source of life and wealth. The saga over the disputed sh11.2b Temangalo land is a lifetime lesson to us. Whether the 116 acres covered by the seasonal wetland in the 463.87-acre Temangalo land – are in a natural or man-made wetland, we should bear it in mind that for everything that we do, there is a price to pay.
We are already paying dearly for the big chunks of wetlands that have silently succumbed to the ever-growing bricklaying business. The population growth coupled with improving standards of living has fueled the demand for buildings thus boosting brick-laying business at the expense of wetlands.
With the 116 acres of Temangalo wetland inclusive, wetlands only occupy 29,000 square kilometres or 13% of Uganda’s total land area of 241,548 square kilometres!
Everyday, brick-laying business pushes wetlands to extinction. For instance, in Biharwe sub-county, Kashari in Mbarara district, brick-layers have displaced seasonal swamps with dams that look like fishponds from a distance.
Biharwe lies within the Rwendama wetland system that stretches from Rubaya through Biharwe and Kyahi forestry reserve and discharges to River Rwizi, a tributary of River Kagera that discharges to Lake Victoria.
As you read this, the rest of the world convenes in World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain to exchange ideas on how to stop the escalating loss of biodiversity, extinction of mammals and other species. And the culprits driving this extinction include loss of natural habitat such as wetlands, over exploitation of terrestrial and marine mammals, pollution and global warming.
Science researchers have documented a paper detailing threats to mammals worldwide as habitat loss and degradation that affect 40% of the world’s mammals. From African elephants to tiny rodents, mammals on earth are in a state of crisis. One in four mammal species is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world’s mammals.
“It is frightening that after millions and millions of years of evolution that have given rise to the biodiversity of mammals, we are perched on a crisis where 25% of species are threatened with being lost forever,” said Andrew Smith, an Arizona State University professor who played a key role in the mammalian assessment.
The assessment shows that at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on earth are threatened with extinction! At least 76 mammals have become extinct since 1500. The real situation could be much worse as 836 mammals are listed as “data deficient!”
Over 1,800 scientists from more than 130 countries working under the auspices of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have discovered that 188 mammals are in the highest threat category of “critically endangered,” announcing the Red List, Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN director general, said.
Researchers say, nearly 450 mammals have been listed as “endangered,” including the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), after its global population declined by more than 60% in the last 10 years due to a fatal infectious facial cancer. The Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), found in Southeast Asia, was listed as endangered due to habitat loss in wetlands.
Similarly, the population of Caspian Seal (Pusa caspica) has declined by 90% in the last 100 years due to unsustainable hunting and habitat degradation. And 29 “critically endangered” species, including Cuba’s Little Earth Hutia (Mesocapromys sanfelipensis), has not been seen in nearly 40 years!
The Grey-faced Sengi or Elephant-shrew (Rhynchocyon udzungwensis), first described this year and placed in the vulnerable category, is only known from two forests in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania, both of which are protected but vulnerable to fires.
Before we concentrate on documenting the remaining species here in Uganda, let’s start with forming a conservation partnership comprised of our leaders, civil society and individuals, and address issues raging from; regulating brick-layers to swamp restoration, from threatened species to forest management, from the impact of climate change on infectious diseases to the need for private sector involvement and from indigenous rights to fisheries governance. Short of this, we shall lose our closest relatives in the wild!
Ends.
Let no one claim to be patriotic without being passionate to the environment – the source of life and wealth. The saga over the disputed sh11.2b Temangalo land is a lifetime lesson to us. Whether the 116 acres covered by the seasonal wetland in the 463.87-acre Temangalo land – are in a natural or man-made wetland, we should bear it in mind that for everything that we do, there is a price to pay.
We are already paying dearly for the big chunks of wetlands that have silently succumbed to the ever-growing bricklaying business. The population growth coupled with improving standards of living has fueled the demand for buildings thus boosting brick-laying business at the expense of wetlands.
With the 116 acres of Temangalo wetland inclusive, wetlands only occupy 29,000 square kilometres or 13% of Uganda’s total land area of 241,548 square kilometres!
Everyday, brick-laying business pushes wetlands to extinction. For instance, in Biharwe sub-county, Kashari in Mbarara district, brick-layers have displaced seasonal swamps with dams that look like fishponds from a distance.
Biharwe lies within the Rwendama wetland system that stretches from Rubaya through Biharwe and Kyahi forestry reserve and discharges to River Rwizi, a tributary of River Kagera that discharges to Lake Victoria.
As you read this, the rest of the world convenes in World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain to exchange ideas on how to stop the escalating loss of biodiversity, extinction of mammals and other species. And the culprits driving this extinction include loss of natural habitat such as wetlands, over exploitation of terrestrial and marine mammals, pollution and global warming.
Science researchers have documented a paper detailing threats to mammals worldwide as habitat loss and degradation that affect 40% of the world’s mammals. From African elephants to tiny rodents, mammals on earth are in a state of crisis. One in four mammal species is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world’s mammals.
“It is frightening that after millions and millions of years of evolution that have given rise to the biodiversity of mammals, we are perched on a crisis where 25% of species are threatened with being lost forever,” said Andrew Smith, an Arizona State University professor who played a key role in the mammalian assessment.
The assessment shows that at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on earth are threatened with extinction! At least 76 mammals have become extinct since 1500. The real situation could be much worse as 836 mammals are listed as “data deficient!”
Over 1,800 scientists from more than 130 countries working under the auspices of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have discovered that 188 mammals are in the highest threat category of “critically endangered,” announcing the Red List, Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN director general, said.
Researchers say, nearly 450 mammals have been listed as “endangered,” including the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), after its global population declined by more than 60% in the last 10 years due to a fatal infectious facial cancer. The Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), found in Southeast Asia, was listed as endangered due to habitat loss in wetlands.
Similarly, the population of Caspian Seal (Pusa caspica) has declined by 90% in the last 100 years due to unsustainable hunting and habitat degradation. And 29 “critically endangered” species, including Cuba’s Little Earth Hutia (Mesocapromys sanfelipensis), has not been seen in nearly 40 years!
The Grey-faced Sengi or Elephant-shrew (Rhynchocyon udzungwensis), first described this year and placed in the vulnerable category, is only known from two forests in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania, both of which are protected but vulnerable to fires.
Before we concentrate on documenting the remaining species here in Uganda, let’s start with forming a conservation partnership comprised of our leaders, civil society and individuals, and address issues raging from; regulating brick-layers to swamp restoration, from threatened species to forest management, from the impact of climate change on infectious diseases to the need for private sector involvement and from indigenous rights to fisheries governance. Short of this, we shall lose our closest relatives in the wild!
Ends.
Word ccount: 719.
1 comment:
Thanks Ten for a good piece and its back up research. Since the Temangalo saga, i havent read or heard any one challenging Amama's reaction to NEMA's report.
He rubbished the report as baseless on grounds that he has lived on the same land for 15 years without seeing any floods.
Amama should know that water only does not prove an area to be wetland or not, where there is no water, the type of soil and grass will confirm.
Amama should also know that there are seasonal wetlands and water can come even after 100 years.
For example the Kyazanga lake that is reshaping after so many years.
I dont know why most politicians take environmental issues as secondary when one mistakes can wipe off all his gains and the whole society.
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