Ugandans believe the state of the nation’s environments now fare worse than they ever were after the East African nation joined the global marking of the International Environment Day.
The event was first held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973 and fifty years later and with the world celebrating their environmental achievements on the 5th of June, Ugandans feel their success is not as great.
In the area of Wildlife restoration, Uganda has tried to bring back extinct and engendered species but has struggled with other aspects of environmental restoration.
The International Environment Day which was commemorated under the theme “Only One Earth” globally had Uganda using the theme “Our Earth, Conserve for Life,”
Uganda’s Lake Victoria has had changing water levels in close to a decade while climate change is changing the water volume of the wetlands to lower levels. Majority of the wetlands are degraded according to environmental authorities in the country.
“The climate is heating up too quickly for people and nature to adapt while pollution of land, air, and water is very high. We need to stop encroachment on the fragile ecosystem, avoid dumping waste responsively, and restore the degraded areas. Air quality in urban areas remains consistently above the World Health Organisation recommended guide. It is over 10 times the WHO 2021 guidelines,” Alfred Okot Okidi, the Secretary of the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment said.
“We recently patterned with the Church where all Church of Uganda founded schools are undertaking a mandatory tree planting campaign on the school land. The trees are given out to every individual willing to plant,” the Ministry of Water and Environment officials revealed.
Locals have also been charged to contribute to the development of the environment by helping to maintain natural resources including water bodies.