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Last week the Minister of Finance, Syda Bbumba launched the State of Uganda Population report, 2009 at Sheraton Kampala Hotel. The population is swelling to about 33 million people.
The report which quotes other studies and surveys on climate change tries to convince us that the Earth’s climate is changing for the worse. And the cause of this climate change is man made in form of slapdash settlement in wetlands, excessive emissions of green house gases such as carbon dioxide. And in Uganda the poor seem to be taking the flak for settling in wetlands (swamps) and cutting down trees for charcoal burning and firewood. Elsewhere there is disagreement between scientists over the actual cause of the volatile climatic changes. The minority scientists who have been ridiculed for their views, argue that the rising temperature can be explained by the natural disparity in solar radiation and that this is about to end. As the population grows so is the number of poor people. The poor have been overly blamed for the environmental degradation. First, it is not true that the poor who dwell in rural areas are bad managers of the environment. The researchers claim the poor fell trees to burn charcoal which in turn is sold to urbanites. But who creates the demand for charcoal? It is the rich. If the rich had alternative energy sources, the poor would not be inspired to trade in charcoal. Uganda is one of the countries in the East African region, where the use of electricity remains exclusively for the rich. But even the rich complain because the power bills shoot through the roof. Whereas the poor fell trees, government does not seem very keen on preserving the environment. Uganda is one of the countries that prides in political mistakes. Politics takes precedence over science. If people had not gone on the streets to protest the giveaway of Mabira Forest to Mehta Group to plant sugar canes, part of that forest would be gone by now. Actually President Museveni still believes that it was a serious mistake to block his investors from taking over part of Mabira. I can’t understand for the life of me, why government decided to turn Namanve Forest into an industrial zone. There was plenty of land in Jinja which had earlier been planned for industrial development and growth and it was ignored. Part of the reason is that investors dictated where they should build their factories. If the industrial zones in Jinja had been revived, probably Busoga wouldn’t be ridiculed by Opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye as the headquarters of poverty. So government had to bow to the demand of the investors even if it meant lowering our guard against forest conservation. Strangely, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) which has been breaking down people’s houses built in wetlands turned a blind eye as Namanve trees were being felled. We even have factories amidst residential areas like Luzira and Namuwongo and we have never taken time to assess the impact of the gas emissions from these factories on human life. The damage from these factories is far bigger than what is done by charcoal burners. It is very difficult these days to tell a residential area from a commercial one. Kololo which was planned long time ago by the colonialists is slowly turning into a modern slum devoid of planning. The land tenure and use in Kololo and Nakasero seems to be in chaos. Trees have been cleared to give way to concrete structures. Others are building high rise structures in places clearly designed for low lying buildings and as a consequence, depriving others their privacy. Indeed, Abel Rwendeire, the Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Authority (NPA) says Kampala city is beyond redemption. He says if he was given the job of organising Kampala, he would recommend that another place is chosen all together to build a new city. So while the poor are singled out for contributing to global warming, the trouble still lies with the planners who sanction the destruction of forests in order to build factories. The author is the Business Development Director, The Observer Media.
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