Economic Activities: A Threat to Wetland Sustainability
By Otim Dalton
In Africa, wetlands are of great importance because they are a source of water and food necessary to the survival of microorganisms and humans alike. In their natural state, wetlands provide a range of eco-system services: they regulate water flow, store eroded materials and nutrients, and provide water, food and raw materials. Therefore, the sustainable management of swamps, marshes, floodplains and mangrove forest (which are all classified as wetlands) is of great value to the long-term welfare of many African societies.
Recently, particularly in Africa, wetlands have become a new agricultural frontier. In response, a number of agencies, both local and international, are trying to explore sustainable wetland management as a way of reducing rural poverty, improving food security and strengthening livelihood resilience in the face of climate change. However, farmers have also realized that wetlands depend on well-managed catchment areas, and measures have been identified to improve upland management. These include improving land use through soil and water conservation measures, inter-planting crops with agro-forestry trees, and maintaining areas of natural vegetation, all of which facilitate water infiltration. This water percolates through to the wetlands.
However, with the growing rural population, climate change and the degradation of upland fields due to prolonged farming, wetlands are under increasing pressure as farmers seek out fertile and moist farming sites. The increased flow of water from degraded uplands into the wetlands and the disturbance of natural vegetation by cultivation in the wetlands threatens erosion and damage to these valuable sites.
In Uganda, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) was formed in May 1995 under the National Environment Act. NEMA was established with the main intention of protecting the environment. But despite NEMA’s efforts, the wetlands are being reclaimed and degraded due to the economic needs of the people around them and those from other areas. According to the Daily Monitor of 30th August 2018, in Uganda, swamps that have been encroached on include Mpogo in MpPasaana, which lies between Kitauhuka and Kisiitia sub-counties, Karokarungi in Kisiita sub-county and Kabale swamp, which borders Kakumiro and the Hoima district. Other swamps affected are Olweny swamp and Okole swamp in Northern Uganda. In eastern Uganda, the districts affected include Kamuli, Jinja, Mutumba, Kaliro and Mayunge, where most people cultivate rice in the wetlands.
A green rice field (left) and a field that’s ready to harvest (right)
One of the key economic activities carried out in the wetlands is rice-growing, which has slowly brought about wetland reclamation. Rice yields very well in the wetlands since it requires plenty of water. Rice-growing gained prominence in the 1970s following the establishment of the Doho Rice Scheme and the Nakwasi and Lwoba irrigation schemes. These schemes were set up for commercial rice-growing and today, they are dominated by rural small-scale farmers living in areas adjacent to wetlands. Although the soils in the area have largely been described as sandy and are characterized by low organic content, the Doho Wetland is an important ecological flood plain for the River Manafwa, coming from the highlands of Bugisu, where fertile clay and volcanic soils are found.
The 2012 Uganda Bureau of Statistics Report indicated that the Busoga region of Eastern Uganda produces 70% of the nation’s rice, worth Ugx120 billion a year. This is a clear indicator that wetland rice-growing is a viable economic activity that contributes greatly to the GDP despite the devastating effect of wetland reclamations. However, environmental scientists have also noted that human activities like increasing population and urbanization are partly to blame for the alarming reclamation and degradation of wetlands and swamps even in other countries, not only in Uganda.
Through NEMA, the government must continue to educate Ugandans on the enormous importance of the wetlands, and their contribution to the environment and climate. The people should be encouraged to gradually shift from wetland rice-growing to upland rice-growing. Afforestation and good agronomic practices should be encouraged to help improve and maintain soil quality and fertility for continuous upland rice-growing. This action shouldn’t hinder the viable economic activity of rice-growing or impact its contribution to Uganda’s GDP, and it will serve the vital purpose of wetlands conservation and sustainability.
A Call for Funding in Botswana
In 2017, the Botswana SFA Hub explored the issue of human-wildlife interaction in the Mmadinare area in Botswana. The study was titled Unearthing the Dynamics of Human and Wildlife Interactions: The Case of Mmadinare Community in the Central Region of Botswana. Human-wildlife interaction is a topical issue that affects the development of grassroots livelihood, the tourism industry, food production and wildlife management. In this study, the hub explored human-wildlife conflict between the Mmadinare community and the elephant rampages that destroy crops and equipment in the ploughing fields. The findings of the study revealed the significant need for Sustainable Community Partnership in addressing human-wildlife conflict in Mmadinare. Therefore, a stakeholder dissemination workshop was held in Mmadinare on 14 August 2018 with the aim of creating sustainable partnerships to address socio-economic issues, such as human-wildlife conflict.
From the local community’s perspective, an educational game park was the best strategy to tackle the problem of human-wildlife conflict. While this idea may sound feasible, it requires a lot of resources, including an in-depth needs assessment involving experts on the environment, wildlife and natural resources as well as education. Since sufficient funds are not available, the idea was halted.
Then, on 22 March 2019, The SFA Botswana research team revisited the community of Mmadinare to look into the community assets that are unexploited and can be used to help alleviate the effects of the challenges posed by wildlife on the community’s livelihoods. The following community assets and resources were identified:
• Lehokojwe and Makome hills
• Matlotla-historic monuments/buildings
• Eco-lodge
• Fish hatchery unit
• Leased land/plots
• Letsibogo Dam
• Dikgathong Dam
To maximize the use of these assets to benefit the residents, community asset training would be ideal in order to help locals learn how to best utilize their resources and assets for their own benefit (income, job creation, etc.). However, although a plan has been arrived at to create a reserve in the area, the lack of funds remains a major constraint. The team would welcome assistance from any donor or friend of the SFA Network.
The Life of an Artisanal Miner
Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) accounts for more than 90% of solid mining in Nigeria. The sector is informal and serves as a means of livelihood for more than 2 million people in Nigeria, including women and children. There has been a recent upsurge in workers in this sector as a result of unemployment and poverty. Artisanal miners are uneducated and unskilled, with no legal permit or qualification to work in the mines. They employ crude methods, using local or household implements for mineral exploration. For their daily sustenance, artisanal miners depend on the minerals they find, such as gold, tourmaline, silver, tin, dolomite, emerald, topaz, columbite etc.
The cool breeze brushed my face as I approached an open shed to wait for one or two miners to speak with. It was almost sunset and most miners were returning to their homes. I observed several bag-packs hung on the wall, the bare floor littered with debris and long benches that serve as beds for the miners. Then I noticed Abubakar Mamuda, a 29-year-old artisanal miner from Kebbi State in the Northern part of Nigeria, sitting on a slab of one of the stores in the market. Speaking his local dialect, I greeted him: ‘Ina wuni, yaya aiki,' and he replied, ‘lafia.’ We further exchanged pleasantries as I enquired and chatted with him about his activities as a miner.
Below, in his own words (minimally edited for clarity), is what he told me:
I had been a farmer all my life before I ventured into mining about 6 years ago. I stay with five other miners in a room rented for us by our Oga [meaning boss]. I leave the room at 6 a.m and it takes me about 25 minutes to trek to the farmland where I work. On getting there, I change into my working clothes, which l always leave at the site. I start digging and keep digging for at least four hours, after which I pack up the soils I have dug up to wash in the river. If I notice any gold deposit in the soil as I wash it, I go back to dig some more. But if the soil is washed and there is no gold deposit, I move to another spot to start the digging process all over again. Since we are into illegal mining, we go into farmlands within the community unlawfully to dig for gold deposits. Whoever is caught by the landowners is charged and sentenced to days, months or years in prison unless help comes from a dealer who’s willing to bail him out.
Before now, miners used to pay a fee of ₦200 to enter anywhere in the town to mine, but that has been cancelled. However, when we find a mineral deposit without getting caught, we inform our Ogas. Then the Ogas look for the owners of the land and buy it off them. Wherever land is bought from the owners, we are hired to sample the land for gold deposits. We are paid enough to feed us for each day of work: an average of $2.86 per miner. I have many Ogas. I was paid ₦200,000 when I found a gold deposit some time ago.
Life as a miner is full of risks and very challenging. A single mistake can end the life of a miner and those of his colleagues at the site; for example there could be a sudden fall of pits as we dig, and other times it could just be part of the pit caving in and causing serious injuries to some part of our bodies. We have lost many miners as a result of this.
There’s no rest for me; rest comes when I sleep in the night. The motto here is ‘until you get money, no rest’. I only rest when I go for lunch since I don’t take breakfast.
Sometimes I don’t go home but sleep on the bare ground at the farmland when l have a lot to do. Some of us spend days and nights on the sites while using burning wood to scare away animals at night. The last time I saw my family was a year ago.
I am not at work today because I am not feeling good.
As we interacted further, many of his friends came around to contribute to our discussion. I realised that it was getting late and I had to be on my way home. But before leaving, I asked if I could take a picture of Abubakar and his friends who had just returned from work. It was then that I noticed Abubakar’s swollen feet and a sore on one of his toes.
‘I have been carrying this wound around for the past three months,’ he lamented. He remarked that he had no money to go to the Community Health Centre for treatment. It wasn’t part of my assignment, but I couldn’t just leave him the way I met him. I offered to pay for his treatment, which he accepted joyfully. We made our way slowly to the Health Centre, where he commenced treatment after the payment of his bill. I then headed home knowing that he was in safe hands.
The story of Abubakar reflects the lives of over 2 million artisanal miners in various mining communities in Nigeria. Interventions on health and safety issues will be the key to help save people like Abubakar from danger and untimely death.
What will Uganda do if the River Nile runs dry?
By Dr. Richard Kagolobya
The recent apocalyptic environmental news headlines around the world about the drying up of the world famous Victoria Falls (shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia) in Southern Africa left me wondering what Uganda would do if the River Nile were to run dry. One such headline that caught my eyes was by Farai Shawn Matiashe, writing from Harare, Zimbabwe: ‘Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, is running dry due to climate change.’ He reported that the long drought in Zimbabwe and Zambia has also led to relentless power cuts in the two countries because of their 50% dependence on hydroelectric power generated at Kariba Dam, which is fed by the River Zambezi. The unprecedented drought has left over five million people in need of food aid in Zimbabwe, coupled with a reduction in tourists who usually visit to have a view of the remarkable Victoria Falls.
Even though there may be a number of climate change doubters around the world, the recent dwindling water levels of the River Zambezi and the subsequent water droplets at Victoria Falls should be a glaring wake-up call to all of us to realize the dangers of climate change to all creation on planet earth.
However, as the above was happening in Southern Africa, here in Uganda, some development enthusiasts in recent days have been thinking about generating more hydro-electricity power so that the country is not caught off guard due to the increasing electricity demand in the face of population growth and foreseeable industrialization. These people have been romanticizing the idea of tinkering and destroying the magnificent Murchison Falls on the River Nile, even at the cabinet level! But these hydro-power based industrialization zealots rarely scrutinize the dangers of over reliance on hydro power in the face of climate change, which they also ironically contribute to. For example, in the case of Zimbabwe, due to the unprecedented dry spell, Matiashe reported that the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority introduced an 18-hour load shedding because Kariba Dam has fallen to its lowest water level since 1996, leading to a reduction in its electricity generation. It has also been reported that these issues have been caused by the changing rain-patterns around River Zambezi’s catchment area, which stretches to north-western Zambia, Angola and DRC, thus showing the international nature of eco-systems and exemplifying the far-reaching consequences of climate change and environmental degradation.
Comparatively, what are Kenyans, Tanzanians and Ugandans doing to Lake Victoria? This is important because Lake Victoria receives 80% percent of its water from direct rainfall and 20% from rivers and streams, and the only outflow from Lake Victoria is the Nile, which exits the lake near Jinja in Uganda. This makes Lake Victoria the principal source of the longest branch of the River Nile.
In the case of Uganda, quick places that come to my mind as far as catchment depletion is concerned are the Ssese and Kalangala Islands and the destruction of natural forests and their replacement with palm oil plantations, coupled with wanton timber harvesting and charcoal burning, which may affect the rainfall patterns around Lake Victoria. Another place that vividly comes to mind is the Rwera Swamp, which has been wantonly tampered with by sand mining and rice growing enterprises, yet it hosts several streams that eventually drain into Lake Victoria, and then later nourishes the Nile!
As we interfere with these resources, do we seriously think about the international environmental responsibility that countries that share Lake Victoria have for preserving the source of the River Nile’s water? Mind you, there are other nations like Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt that depend on River Nile for their survival.
Even though from September to December 2019, Uganda was grappling with heavy rainfall which led to multi-location floods, as well as landslides which killed a number of people, destroyed houses, farmland and road infrastructure in Bundibugyo and Bududa districts, the opposite can also be true in the foreseeable future as it was in Zimbabwe and Zambia during that period. Uganda (Tanzania and Kenya) can be bombarded by a lengthy dry spell leading to Lake Victoria releasing painful tear-drops of water into the River Nile and the later turning into it a mere trickle due to climate change! And yet, Uganda, as it is today, is not at all prepared for such a climate change induced prolonged drought because of its heavy dependence on rain-fed agriculture and oversubscription to hydro-electric power. And as I write, four of the five major power stations that light Uganda’s homes and industries are on River Nile! These are Kiira Power Station (200MW), Nalubaale Power Station (180MW), Karuma Hydro Power Station (600MW) Isimba Hydro Power Station (183MW), apart from the Muzizi Hydro Power Station (44.7MW), which is along the Muzizi River in Kibaale district.
As we wonder about how Victoria Falls was running dry due to climate change, let nations like Uganda also think and plan for the worst case scenarios if nothing is done to mitigate climate change and its consequences. Nations should invest in climate change resilience programmes, one of which is to invest in other renewable energy sources rather than oversubscribing to hydroelectricity, which is at the moment susceptible to climate change. At least Kenya has made strides in that direction by unveiling the Lake Turkana Wind Power farm which consists of 365 turbines with a capacity to allot 310 megawatts of energy to Kenya’s national power grid.
Over the past decades, the mantra among nations relying on hydro-electricity power was that it is the most reliable and sustainable renewable source of energy. This is somewhat exemplified by Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited’s mission statement: ‘Sustainably generate reliable, quality and affordable electricity for socio-economic development.’ Yet such companies rarely think about hydropower’s dependence on environmental and climatic factors and scarcely invest in environmental sustainability projects in the face of climate change. However, going by the Zimbabwe-Zambia scenario, one would suggest that governments and private companies that have heavily invested in hydropower generation should be the chief advocates of environmental protection, preservation and renewal in the water catchment areas that feed the rivers on which the power stations are constructed. Otherwise, the escalating drought-spells leading to rivers and falls running to a trickle due to climate change may put to waste multi-billion hydro-power installations around the world. And for the case of Uganda in particular, one would recommend that instead of gambling with the destruction of the much beloved Murchison Falls, the time is now to think about energy source diversification rather than over relying on hydroelectricity power on the River Nile. Otherwise, what will Uganda do if the Nile runs dry this time tomorrow?
Dr. Kagolobya works with Makerere University and is a Member of Sustainable Futures in Africa; an international consortium of multidisciplinary environmental sustainability researchers and enthusiasts.