ganda, like other countries, is facing adverse effects of environment degradation, most of which are attributed to population explosion and poor land use methods. Because a vast majority of Ugandans relies on agriculture as a source of livelihood and use traditional methods of farming, soils have been exhausted. Subsequently, they have to look for more productive areas that can enable them sustain their food production and household income generation. Such productive areas are wetlands, river banks or forests, and this explains why such areas have been encroached on. Encroachment is responsible for the degradation of natural resources in Uganda. At its extreme, encroachment can lead to extinction of some natural resources.  For instance, encroachment on River Rwizi in Southwestern Uganda has been so severe that it the river is on the verge of drying up due to degradation. The use of poor land and soil management systems and overgrazing along the river banks and in the catchment areas are slowly leading to its extinction. The extinction of the river has grievous effects on the livelihoods of millions of people and livestock in over 12 districts that depend on it for both domestic and commercial use. The effects stretch further to multi-national firms that depend on the river. For instance, Nile Breweries factory in Mbarara can only access 10% of its water needs from River Rwizi, which is far much less than the required 75%. Studies on water quality of R. Rwizi reveal that the water is unsafe for use due to: high concentration of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, zinc and cu), which are above the World Health Organisation standard; increased phosphorous and nitrogen concentration due to fertilizer use along the river banks.

Government together with development partners have made attempts to save the river from drying up. The interventions done so far are for holding water in the upland catchment areas in a bid to increase water storage in the soil so that water is available in wet and dry seasons. Over USD 120,000 (about 450 million shs) has been invested in a period of about three years to construct water conservation structures that include earth and stone bunds, retention beaches, gabions and trenches. Without doubt, there has been remarkable progress towards restoration of River Rwizi. However, a lingering question is whether investment in conservation structures is sufficient to sustain water levels in the river. Without regulating the activities that take place at the river banks, can we guarantee both sufficient and safe water availability to downstream water users? Is displacing the river bank users a solution to the menace? Even if they were chased, those with a mandate of protecting natural resources are resource-constrained and cannot afford to monitor the river banks regularly to ensure that encroachment does not happen again. This is already happening as reported by some residents saying that “environmentalists focus on reclaiming and protecting sections of the river which are easily noticeable, neglecting sections deep in rural and hard to reach areas”. In addition, after reclaiming, they are supposed to replant the river banks with indigenous grasses and herbaceous vegetation resilient to climate variability, but this is not being done owing to resource constraint.

My opinion is that those with the mandate of preserving the natural resources should adopt Agri-Environment (AE) measures. AE measures provide payments to land users who subscribe, on a voluntary basis, to environmental commitments related to the preservation of the environment and maintaining the countryside. They are designed to encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their farmland by paying them for the provision of environmental services. Instead of displacing the encroachers, integrate them to spearhead sustainable land management techniques. Train them environmentally favorable farming practices and pay them for the profits foregone for practicing environmental conservation practices. Community participation in natural resource management is not only key for sustainable preservation but also key to integration at local, regional, and national levels. Once the community understands that they benefit from the sustainable management of water and land resources, they can own and meaningfully participate in the change process.

My appeal to government is to integrate Agri-Environment schemes into natural resource management legislation. These measures are proven instrument used in other countries to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, population explosion and farming activities on the environment.