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At about 10:00 am the team from the Ministry of Water and Environment arrived at Butaleja district for a final brief on what to expect in the field at Nakwasi Leresi wetland where a planned launch of the demarcation exercise had been scheduled.
For several months experts from the Ministry of Water and Environment, together with district officials had been heavily involved in stakeholder engagements to persuade the communities to voluntarily vacate the Nakwasi Leresi wetland, but the response had been slow to take shape.
With almost every household in Butaleja, heavily reliant on wetlands for livelihood, it is more obvious that dissuading communities from cultivating rice would be a tall order. Any suggestions contrary to their interests would be met with resistance. Both community members and local leaders would fight tooth-to-nail. On August,24,2022, however, the story changed.
First, the leadership of the district comprising the CAO, RDC, DISO, and LCV exhibited a high level of support for the restoration of the Nakwasi Leresi wetland. Later, community members followed suit. “We are aware of this project. We know this project is part of the presidential directive to restore wetlands. so, we are ready to implement it to the dot,” Ms Namageule Hajira, the RDC, told the meeting attended by Mr Joseph Ongol, the Asst Commissioner Ministry of Water and Environment.
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“I want to assure you that all community members have embraced this project. Following several engagements, my community members have come to terms with reality, save for the members of parliament. In the case of MPs, we are willing to continue engaging with them. Unless they show us proof that the laws protecting wetlands have changed, our stand is that we have to restore these wetlands.,” LCV, Bore Micheal Higyenyi, said.
Indeed, every word said by the district authorities exhibited strong support for the project. At the community meeting, former wetland users, similarly exhibited a high level of project awareness, with many turning up to participate during the launch and demarcation exercise.
Some local leaders (with plots of land on Nakwasi -Leresi wetland) were the first to surrender their portions as a sign of commitment to support and motivation to other community members to follow through. “I requested the team to plant a pillar on our plot to show the community that government has no intention to take away anybody’s land,” Ms Aidah Mugoya, district councillor, whose land was affected during the demarcation exercise, said. Several of the project affected then turned up for registration in anticipation of the alternative livelihood promised by the government.
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When the government requested Jackson Mwesigye, a resident of Kyamabale village, Shuuku Town Council whose livelihood depended on wetlands, to voluntarily leave the Kyemabale wetland, his response was negative because he felt his livelihood was threatened. His fellow wetland users equally felt the same.
However, with continuous engagement under the Building Resilient Communities, Wetlands ecosystems, and Associated Catchments in Uganda project, Mr Mwesigye like many of his community members agreed to leave the wetland, so it could regenerate. In return, he was to select enterprises that could serve as an alternative livelihood. Together with other wetland users, Mwesigye selected Apiary.
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“We were asked to select enterprises that we could manage after leaving the wetland. We selected apiary, and we were given 24 beehives,” said Mwesigye. According to Mwesigye, they received the beehives under the Kyamabale Bee Keepers Group and are now beaming with hope. The group has 15 members, six women, and 9 men, with each member representing a household of not less than ten individuals.
The group has so far harvested 20 litres, with each selling for shs 20, 000, bringing the total earning to shs 400.000. In the first harvest, only four beehives had colonized. Currently, all 24 beehives have colonized and the group was expecting to make the second harvest in mid-August 2022.
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My name is Penlop Mpabwa a resident of Kyempitsi East, Shuuku Town council, Sheema district. I am a member of the Omukarembo Group. The group has nine members (two males and seven women) formerly cultivating in the Kyempitsi wetland.
Our group benefited from the Building Resilient Communities, Wetlands Ecosystems, and Associated Catchments in Uganda project implemented by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), in partnership with the Ministry of Agricultural Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA).
"The government never disappointed us. We believe we shall benefit more shortly, than when we were degrading the wetlands"
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We received four piglets. But as a host farmer, I found a challenge in managing the pigs because some members had left the responsibility to me. So, we agreed to distribute the pigs, (One piglet was given to a male member, one, to three female members, one, to two other female members and the remaining one, to three members). The one that remained under my care have since multiplied to 13 pigs. I have given out seven piglets to the two group members with whom we shared the two piglets.
I am happy for the support. The government never disappointed us. We believe we shall benefit more shortly, than when we were degrading the wetlands. Although we knew that what we were doing to the wetlands was wrong, we had no choice because we needed to find where to cultivate given the limited land for agriculture. Thanks to the project, our livelihoods will surely change.
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