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Policy Brief: Unsustainable Urban

Development in Uganda’s Wetlands


is a Time bomb
Show me a healthy community with a healthy economy and I will show you a community that has its green
infrastructure in order and understands the relationship between the built and the unbuilt environment.
~ Will Rogers, Trust for Public Land (Prince William Conservation Alliance).


Summary

• The global theme of the 2018 World Wetland Day: ‘Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future’ has been chosen to raise
awareness about how urban wetlands contribute to the future of sustainable cities. The national slogan is ‘Urban wetlands:
prized land, not wasteland.’
• Uganda will mark this Year’s Wetlands day in Arua Municipality in North western Uganda, one of the districts where human
pressures are putting an amassed impact on the remaining fragile urban wetland and forest ecosystems.
• Uganda’s Vision 2040 recognizes that climate change affects all sectors of Uganda’s economy, making the need for preparedness
inevitable through adaptation and mitigation strategies in all sectors to ensure that the country is resilient to the adverse impact of
climate change.
• In line with the 2018 World Wetlands Day theme, Uganda’s Climate Change Policy (2015) prioritises provision of adequate support
for policies and programmes that take into account interactions between population dynamics, climate change and
development. With regard to wetlands, this Policy has both adaptation and mitigation sub-priorities as wetlands contribute
to community adaptation as well as mitigation of climate change impacts. This is through provisioning of goods and services
and storage of emissions (i.e. carbon-dioxide) in above and below ground carbon stocks.
• Uganda’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) prioritizes adaptation through a commitment to undertake a range of improved
land use management practices in the forestry, wetlands and agriculture sectors. Therefore, wetlands management plays a key part
of the planned climate interventions under both the planned adaptation and mitigation priorities under the NDC
• However, there are several challenges to wetlands for a sustainable future including: the unregulated growing demand for building
and construction materials which have resulted into sand mining activities, which are operating in a legislative vacuum. A
case in point is the unregulated sand mining in Lwera wetland in Masaka district among other wetlands across the country.
• This Policy brief makes recommendations to different actors including: Government (Ministry of Water and Environment / Wetlands
Management Department, Local authorities, the National Environment Management Authority, Civil Society and other actors
to address these challenges.
• In particular, the recommendation to protect the existing wetland acreage and gradually scaling it up as Uganda implements its
NDC, is in line with the intention to design and implement 15 Ramsar sites and Framework wetland management plans. This
will contribute to adaptive capacity of Uganda’s agriculture and water sectors, given that Uganda’s urban wetland cover
is a potential carbon sink that can ratchet the country’s NDC ambition under the Paris Agreement.
• Similarly the Ministry of Water, Local authorities, CSOs and other actors should take advantage of early lessons and inspiration from
the maiden Green Climate Fund project, to secure more interventions in support of urban wetland conservation for increased
adaptation and community resilience building, given the fast growing population that is already straining the existing urban wetland
cover.
Photo Source: UCSD

1.0 Introduction
The global theme of the 2018 World Wetland Day is ‘Wetlands for a Sustainable
Urban Future’ has been chosen to raise awareness about how urban wetlands
contribute to the future of sustainable cities. Wetlands provide many ecosystem
services in addition to a net carbon sequestration function (William J. Mitsch et.
al, 2011).

In Uganda, this theme is important to reflect on, due to rapid loss of these important
natural resources that act to cushion the economy and the fast growing urban
population against the increasingly unpredictable impacts of climate change. The
choice of the Uganda national celebrations to take place in Arua district is timely,
Urban wetlands make as human pressures are putting an amassed impact on the remaining fragile
cities liveable in many wetland and forest ecosystems on the outskirts of Arua Municipality
important ways. They (The Daily Monitor, June 2017).
reduce flooding, replenish
Urban wetlands make cities liveable in many important ways. They reduce
drinking water, filter
flooding, replenish drinking water, filter waste, provide urban green spaces, and
waste, provide urban are a source of livelihoods. These wetland benefits grow ever more crucial as the
green spaces, and are a number of people living in cities worldwide, has now passed the 4 billion mark
source of livelihoods. and continues to rise.

Uganda’s Vision 2040 (National Planning Authority, 2007) recognizes that climate
change affects all sectors of Uganda’s economy, making the need for preparedness
inevitable through adaptation and mitigation strategies in all sectors to ensure
that the country is resilient to the adverse impact of climate change. In addition,
developing guidelines for mainstreaming climate change in sectoral and local
government plans and budgets (2014) are recognised.

During the Financial Year 2016/17, the Ministry of Water and Environment
demarcated 168 Kms of critical wetlands in Hoima, Kisoro, Jinja, Iganga, Arua,
Gulu, Alebtong, Lira and Masindi Districts, and restored a total of 476 Hectares
(ha) of degraded wetlands in the districts of Kiruhura (150ha), Soroti (13ha), Rakai
(145ha), Isingiro (40ha), Bududa (10ha), Budaka (28ha), Bulambuli (80ha), Omoro
(6ha), and Lira (10ha).
However, an additional Ug shs 60bn required annually, remain as a funding gap
for tree planting, restoration and enforcement activities on fragile ecosystems
(Ministry Water and Environment Policy Statement 2017/18 & Uganda Water and Adaptation: the process of
Environment Sector Performance Report 2017). adjusting to the impacts of a
changing climate, seeking to
Under the Uganda National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) (2015), a climate change
moderate or avoid harm, and
resilient and low carbon climate development pathway, is expected to help meet
Vision 2040’s goals through strategies and actions that address both sustainable exploit beneficial opportunities
development and climate change. This pathway shall also help the Government
achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other internationally Mitigation: efforts to
agreed development goals without compromising the environment and the
reduce or prevent emission
natural resource base.
of greenhouse gases.
Uganda’s five-year National Development Plan 2015/16–2019/20 (NPA, 2015) in Mitigation can mean using
the short and medium-term, recognizes that most of the key economic sectors new technologies and
(agriculture, forestry and energy) will be affected by climate change, and as a renewable energies, making
result climate change will negatively affect the national economy. The NDP
older equipment more
therefore emphasizes the need to address challenges of climate change so as to
enhance sustainable economic and social development in the country. energy efficient, or changing
management practices or
1.1 Uganda National Climate Change Policy and consumer behaviour. It can
Wetlands be as complex as a plan for
a new city, or as a simple as
The Uganda’s Climate Change Policy (2015) in line with the 2018 World Wetlands improvements to a cook stove
Day theme, prioritises provision of adequate support for policies and programmes
design.
that take into account interactions between population dynamics, climate change
and development. With regard to wetlands, this Policy has both adaptation and
mitigation sub-priorities (see Boxes 1 and 2).

Under Land Use and Land-Use Change (adaptation), the Policy seeks to promote and enforce urban and rural planning
of settlements; Control and monitor land development and other land-use changes in a sustainable manner so as to
better manage Green House Gas (GHG) sources and sinks. Similarly, the Policy seeks to promote a balance between
conservation and sustainable use of wetlands to reduce GHG emissions.

Box 1: Uganda’s wetland sector context and challenges under adaptation

i. Uganda is endowed with wetland resources that contribute significantly to environmental sustainability,
community livelihoods and carbon sequestration.
ii. However, the country’s wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate. By end June 2016, Uganda’s land
area covered by wetlands was estimated at 10.9%. The area restored in 2016/17 financial year was only
476 ha hence increasing the coverage of wetlands by 0.002%; this still translates to 10.9% wetlands
coverage.
iii. Major drivers of wetland degradation include draining of wetlands for agriculture, human settlements,
urban and industrial expansion, over-harvesting of wetland resources, over-fishing and poor use of
wetland catchments leading to siltation of wetlands and rivers.
iv. Climate change and intensified land use will exacerbate wetland degradation, as wetlands
will be encroached upon for farming, and incidence of wetland fires is likely to rise.
v. This will increase the rate of interventions needed in this sector to ensure sustainable
wetland conservation and restoration.
Source: Uganda National Climate Change Policy, 2015 & Ministry of Water and Environment, 2017
Under mitigation, the National Climate Change Policy (2015) points out the need to promote and intensify wetland
protection and restoration in order to enhance sinks of greenhouse gases and to promote sustainable use of wetlands as
a response to the sector challenges.

Box 2: Wetlands Sectoral Context and Challenges under mitigation



i. There is rampant illegal draining and filling of wetlands, which causes flooding and increased GHG
emissions.
ii. As the population increases, both the rich and poor are increasingly pushed to derive
livelihoods from wetlands, including through reclamation for agriculture, vegetables and other industrial
and commercial purposes.
iii. Wetlands emit substantial quantities of GHG, even more so when reclaimed on a large scale
such as for rice growing in Eastern Uganda.
iv. The enormous biomass (living and dead) in wetlands and their high productivity suggest an
important function of wetlands in the mitigation of GHG emission.
v. Much interest is directed towards their role in the carbon balance, in terms of production of
carbon dioxide and methane when conserved and even more significant emission of GHG
when reclaimed or drained.
vi. There is heavy encroachment of the country’s wetlands by developers.
vii. Political interference has often hampered the enforcement of laws and regulations to
protect the wetlands under the current policy framework for wetland protection.
viii. In some cases, waste from various sources is directed into wetlands and the ecosystem is
destroyed.

Source: Uganda National Climate Change Policy, 2015.

Photo Source: UCSD


Paris Agreement:
2.0 Promoting Wetlands Conservation as part
An international climate
of Uganda’s Climate Action Plan
change agreement under the
Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) were key to reaching the Paris
UNFCCC adopted by 196 Parties
at COP21 in Paris in 2015. It Agreement and will be instrumental in implementing it in their next round (new
entered into force on November NDCs or updated NDCs) by 2020 and every five years thereafter. UN climate
4, 2016. negotiations have so far provided limited guidance on NDC formulation, which has
resulted in varying scopes and contents of NDCs, often lacking details concerning
Nationally Determined ambitions and they omit important mitigation sectors (Pauw.W.P. et. al, 2017).
Contributions: Refers to the 165
national climate plans countries Uganda’s NDC (See Table 1 below) prioritizes adaptation. It includes a commitment
have submitted to the UNFCCC to undertake a range of improved land use management practices in the forestry,
to date (they are from 192 wetlands and agriculture sectors, which are expected to amount to an economy-
countries since the EU submitted wide reduction in total GHG emissions of 22% below Business as Usual (BAU)
one for all of its 28 member scenario levels by 2030. This is because, the livelihoods of Ugandans are highly
states). The NDCs describe
dependent on the exploitation of her natural resources, including climate.
commitments to emissions-
reduction targets and policies,
For mitigation, Uganda will focus on implementation of a series of policies and
adaptation plans and other
climate action goals. measures in the energy supply, forestry and wetland sectors. In the business-as-
usual (BAU) emissions projection for Uganda, including Land Use Land Use Change
and Forestry, the estimated emissions for Uganda in 2030 will be 77.3 million tons
of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (Irish Aid, 2015). Total emissions in 2000
were 36.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (MtCO2eq/yr).

Table 1: Uganda’s Mitigation and Adaptation actions related to wetlands management


i. Managing water resource systems, including wetlands, particularly in cities, in such a way
that floods are prevented and existing resources conserved (through the establishment of an
Adaptation
Integrated Water Resources Management system)

Development of enabling environment for wetland management, including:


i. Creation of national information database through re-inventory and assessment of all wetlands.
ii. Design and implementation of 11 Ramsar site wetland research, eco-tourism and education
centres.
Mitigation iii. Design and implementation of 111 District wetland action plans, with carbon sink potential.
iv. Design and implementation of 15 Ramsar sites and Framework wetland management plans
v. Demarcation and gazettement of 20 critical and vital wetland systems and their
maintenance country wide as carbon sink.
vi. Wetlands law enforcement and governance.
vii. Strengthening wetland management institutions responsible for wetlands management
and conservation.
• Increase wetland coverage to 12% by 2030, from approximately 10.9% in 2014,
through demarcation, gazettement and restoration of degraded wetlands

Source: Uganda NDC (2015).

Since the livelihood of the people of Uganda is highly dependent on the exploitation of her natural resources, including
climate Uganda’s priority is adaptation.

Focus will therefore be on reducing vulnerability and addressing adaptation in agriculture and livestock, forestry,
infrastructure (with an emphasis on human settlements, social infrastructure and transport), water, energy, health and
disaster risk management.

In relation to wetlands, Sustainable Land Management and Climate Smart Agriculture will be scaled up to increase
resilience at the grassroots level. Therefore under Uganda’s NDC, wetlands management plays a key part of the planned
climate interventions under both the planned adaptation and mitigation priorities as summarised in Table 1 above.
Photo Source: UCSD

In addition to the prioritised mitigation efforts outlined above, Uganda is prepared


Climate Smart Agriculture:
to undertake additional mitigation activities contingent upon receipt of sufficient
Agriculture that sustainably
international support, provided in the form of finance, technology and capacity increases productivity, enhances
building. Possible support could be accessed through various climate finance resilience (adaptation), reduces/
instruments and international market mechanisms. These include Climate-Smart removes GHGs (mitigation)
Agriculture techniques for cropping which is closely associated with wetlands where possible, and enhances
across the country where many people are engaged in both rural and urban areas. achievement of national food
security and development goals.
The Ministry of Water and Environment has made a head start by securing an The principal goal of CSA is
eight-year Green Climate Fund Project: ’Building Resilient Communities’, Wetland food security and development;
Ecosystems and Associated Catchments in Uganda’ worth USD 24 million that while productivity, adaptation,
targets to restore 760 square kilometres of degraded wetlands across 20 districts and mitigation are identified
in the Country i.e. 10 in Eastern Uganda and 10 is Western Uganda. as the three interlinked pillars
necessary for achieving this goal
(FAO)
Sustainable Land Management:
Green Climate Fund: An international fund created in 2010 to support
practices and technologies
adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries. An initial $10.3
that aim to integrate the
billion was pledged to the (GCF) from over 40 countries, and the Fund began
management of land, water,
approving projects in 2015. Money developed countries provide to the GCF is
biodiversity, and other
one, but not the only, source of funding that counts towards the $100 billion
environmental resources to meet
goal. At each of its meetings, the COP provides guidance to the GCF.
human needs while ensuring
the long-term sustainability
of ecosystem services and
livelihoods (FAO)
Vulnerability:
Susceptibility to be adversely
affected by climate change
impacts
Photo Source: UCSD

3.0 Concerns for Uganda’s wetlands in


relation to a Sustainable Urban Future
Both the Ministry of Water and Environment and The Environment and Natural
Resources CSOs position paper ahead of the 9th Annual Water and Environment
Joint Sector Review (ENR CSO, 2017), separately raised several concerns
regarding Uganda’s wetlands. Below are some of them that relate to the World
Wetlands Day 2018 theme:

a) Wetlands are under siege, with developers continuously reclaiming them


for other forms of land use. For example, municipalities / towns are using them as
waste sinks, drained for expansion of residential plots. This is affecting wetlands
functions and livelihoods that depend on them directly and indirectly.

b) Similarly, wetlands in urban areas are affected by industrial and other


business - related expansions. This results in unrestrained release of liquid and
solid (including non-biodegradable) wastes from car garages, car washing bays
into these wetlands.

Therefore, there is a need c) There is no action taken on small wetlands by the Ministry of Water and
to equip the responsible Environment that are fast disappearing, like Matte along Hoima Road. Moreover,
institutions with personnel these support livelihoods through direct use functions as well as environmental
and other support to services at community level in urban areas. Loss of these small wetlands especially
regularly monitor these in urban areas is therefore of growing concern.
developments against the
set mitigation plans... d) Oil and gas developments, particularly the routing of the oil pipelines
is likely to affect wetland ecosystem. Therefore, there is a need to equip the
responsible institutions with personnel and other support to regularly monitor
these developments against the set mitigation plans as set out in the Environment
Impact Statements
e) Relatedly, large scale Government infrastructure programmes are not
taking lead in restoring wetlands and other degraded ecosystems due to weak
enforcement of the set mitigation plans and poor management capacities. This
discourages public support for country-wide compliance with related policies and
laws

f) Sand mining in fragile ecosystems like Lake Victoria and adjoining wetlands
like Lwera and many others across the country

g) Low awareness and lack of affordable options amongst the poor


communities in urban and suburban areas resulting in encroachment on important
wetland systems that is key for water retention and flood control for small scale
crop farming, settlement, brick making, sand mining and other degradation.

h) The current wetlands policy of 1995 is outdated. There are numerous


changes that necessitate its review, including the fast growing population, The current wetlands
urbanisation, land use changes, climate change and changes in institutional policy of 1995 is outdated.
mandates. There are numerous
changes that necessitate
i) There is no wetlands legislation leading to rampant abuse of this vital its review.
resource

j) Lake Wamala has long been identified and proposed as a Ramsar site, but
no follow up is made and yet it is faced with encroachment challenges including
illegal issuance of land titles in the surrounding environs

Photo Source: Nature Palace Foundation


4.0 Recommendations
a) The Ministry of Water and Environment and Ministry of Lands, Housing
and Urban Development should update the stakeholders about the status of
implementation of the presidential directive to cancel illegal land titles in wetlands
and forest reserves

b) As a starting point, the Ministry of Water and Environment should map


and demarcate all urban wetlands (including those considered small).

c) The Ministry of Water and Wetlands should map out all fragile ecosystems
across the country where sand mining is strictly prohibited, and make this publicly
known to all stakeholders including small, medium and large business entities.

d) The Ministry of Water and Environment and other actors should revise,
popularise and fully enforce the sand mining regulations and guidelines in order
to address the current rate of wetlands degradation due to this fast growing
As a starting point, the activity.
Ministry of Water and
Environment should map e) The Ministry of Water and Environment, CSOs and others actors should
and demarcate all urban scale up public awareness and information (including political and local leaders)
wetlands on the benefits of urban wetlands including small wetlands to community
livelihoods.

f) National and local governments should protect the existing wetland


acreage and gradually scaling it up as Uganda implements its NDC is in line with
the intention to design and implement 15 Ramsar sites and Framework wetland
management plans. For example, Uganda has an opportunity to designate
Lake Wamala as a Ramsar site, which comes with multiple benefits including
conservation of this resource under stress and ratcheting ambition in local
adaptation capacities under fisheries, water resources management, agriculture
and other sectors in Mityana, Mubende and Gomba.

g) The Ministry of Water and Environment, Local Governments and CSOs


should take advantage of early lessons and inspiration from the maiden Green
Climate Fund project, to secure more interventions in support of urban wetlands
conservation including small wetlands for increased adaptation and communities’
resilience building, given the fast growing population that is already straining the
existing urban wetland cover.

h) The Ministry of Water and Environment should fast track revision of the
National Wetlands policy as urgently initiate the process to develop a national
wetlands legislation

5.0 Conclusion
The rapidly increasing urban population in Uganda is putting undue stress on key natural resource - dependent
sectors like water supply, agriculture, public health and energy supply in both the urban and rural areas.

Hence, the 2018 World Wetlands Day theme, ‘Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future’ is an alarm bell for Uganda
to reflect on governance of its urban wetlands, given their importance to livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and
to the Country’ climate action plan under the Paris Agreement.
6.0 References

a) The Daily Monitor Newspaper (June 2017). ‘Rapid urbanisation impact Arua wetlands’: http://www.
monitor.co.ug/News/National/Rapid-urbanisation-impact-Arua-wetlands/688334-3979864-11ec4w7/
index.html accessed January 15, 2018
b) Environment and Natural Resources CSOs Position on the Performance of Environment and Natural
Resources subsector in Financial Year 2016/17: http://enr-cso.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ENRO-
CSO-Insert-2017.pdf accessed January 10, 2018
c) Irish Aid (2015). Uganda Country Climate Action Report. Resilience Policy Team | Irish Aid | November,
2015
d) Ministry of Water and Environment (2015). Uganda National Climate Change Policy.
e) Ministry of Water and Environment (2017). Review of Performance of the Environment and Natural
Resources Sub-sector. Presented to Joint Sector Review (2017) by the Director Environment Affairs:
http://www.mwe.go.ug/sites/default/files/library/MPS%20FY%202017-2018.pdf accessed January 10,
2018
f) Ministry of Water and Environment Policy Statement for the financial year 2017 /2018 (March 2017):
http://www.mwe.go.ug/sites/default/files/library/MPS%20FY%202017-2018.pdf accessed January 10,
2018
g) Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development (2017). Uganda National Project Baseline Report –
Promoting Implementation of the Paris Agreement (PIPA) in East Africa: http://www.inforse.org/africa/
pdfs/PIPA_Uganda_Baseline_Report_May_8_2017.pdf accessed September 4, 2017
h) Uganda’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC):http://www4.unfccc.int/ndcregistry/
Published Documents/Uganda First/INDC Uganda final 14 October 2015.pdfaccessed September 4, 2017
i) William J. Mitschet. al (2011). Wetlands, carbon, and climate change
(Research article) http://static. springer.com/sgw/documents/1365471/application/pdf/
Wetlands%2C+carbon%2C+and+climate+change. pdf
j) Pauw W.P. et. al, (2017). Beyond headline mitigation numbers: we need more transparent and
comparable NDCs to achieve the Paris Agreement on climate change: https://link.springer.com/
article/10.1007/s10584-017-2122-x#CR23 accessed January 10, 2017
Photo Source: UCSD
Photo Source: UCSD

This Policy Brief has been prepared by the Uganda PIPA project Campaign Group members
(Albertine Rift Conservation Society, Environmental Alert, Hear International, Kikandwa Environment
Association, National Association of Professional Environmentalists, Nature Palace Foundation, Rural
Development and Media Communications) led by UCSD as part of the Project: Promoting Implementation of
the Paris Agreement (PIPA) in East Africa - with a pro-poor focus involving INFORSE Network, SustainableEnergy,
TaTEDO and SusWatch Kenya supported by CISU (Denmark).

Through the PIPA, the above Partners are contributing to strengthening the pro-poor focus and climate change
ambitions in the implementation of the Paris Agreement in East Africa. This is being done through assessing
implementation (readiness) of the NDCs. This is the principal cornerstone of the Paris Agreement. More about
the Project: http://www.inforse.org/africa/East_Africa_PIPA.htm

Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the project funder.

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