By Leonard Kamugisha AKIDA,
NATIONAL
Throughout the country, environments are facing increasing threats of destruction – an alarming trend that signals that actions to champion the conservation of environment and climate change are becoming too important to ignore. Forum for Democratic Change – FDC examines this issue as part of , a series of hernias acts meant to cause natural climatic calamities.
“FDC condemns such hernias acts towards mother nature and some of the government actors who are always in cahoots with these environmental terrorists hiding behind investment not knowing that their actions put Uganda’s future at risk before natural climatic calamities like floods, famine,” said Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the FDC president
Amuriat was speaking to journalists at the party’s end of year press briefing at Najjanankumbi on Monday.
He says that Uganda is naturally endowed with green good climate boosting of diversity in flora and fauna but, this has been eroded and destroyed by humans while authorities are on looking.
According to statistics from NEMA Uganda’s wetland cover has reduced from 15.5% to 13% within a space of 28 years. In total, between 1990 and 2010, Uganda lost 37.1% of its forest cover, or around 1,763,000 ha. Uganda’s forests contain 109 million metric tons of carbon in living forest biomass.
Amuriat accuses government of hiding in the image of investors who carry out human activities like sand mining and rice growing in Lwera and Bukakatta wetlands in the greater Masaka yet such activities exploit the environment.
“Mr. Museveni prefers money to life of Ugandans,” he said
First forward, Amuriat explains that destruction of the environment such exploitation of lake Victoria is fragile eco system accusing authorities of laxity on enforcing environmental protection laws.
In August, flash floods hit eastern parts of Uganda after rivers Nabuyonga, Namatala, Nashibiso and Napwoli burst their banks causing about 29 fatalities and over 4,000 displacements.
A number of 80 houses, nine education centers and 14 bridges were also damaged.
This has been majorly attributed to an increase in erratic rains increasing the water volumes due to human activities in wetlands and the banks of water bodies harmful to the environment
FDC has since embarked on a campaign dubbed “greening Uganda” where more than 500,000 different tree species have been planted during party activities one way of restoring the environment and the campaign will continue to upto 2023.
