The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | At least 294 billion shillings is needed annually to capitalize the Uganda Biodiversity Fund for the conservation of nature across the country. The endowment, a brainchild of the Rotary Mission Green initiative, seeks to support national and community-based institutions and individuals involved in protecting and conserving Uganda’s rich biodiversity.
The architects of the fund intend to use it to, among others, plant 20 million trees annually, up from the initial 3.6 million trees planted in 2017 for the restoration of degraded forests landscapes around the country. They intend to work with the Kingdoms to raise tree seedlings and access land for the project. Buganda, Bunyoro and Tooro Kingdoms have signed up for the program.
Other activities of the initiative will include cleaning polluted lakes, preservation of bee species, indigenous plants in Albertine graben and Human-Wildlife conflicts around Budongo forests among others.
Rotary District 9211 Past Governor Kenneth Wycliffe Mugisha says the Biodiversity Endowment Fund was developed after the realization that most of the trees being planted are not surviving due to lack of proper care and environmentally incompatible species.
He says they will focus on growing indigenous trees which are known to endure under different landscapes across Uganda alongside fruit trees to enhance the economy of local communities. First on their mind is the restoration of the bank of River Rwizi and landslide-prone areas of Bududa.
Mugisha says the Biodiversity Endowment Fund will be capitalized with donations from the government as well as the citizens. He adds that the campaign will also involve a component on sensitizing communities to avert hazards of polythene materials and plastic choking our water bodies.
Juliet Kyokunda, the Executive Director of Biodiversity Fund Uganda says a lot of biodiversities are already at stake in the Albertine Graben due to oil and gas activities. She says they would like to mobilize residents in such areas to protect nature to sustain balance in the environment.
The Uganda Biodiversity Fund will be hosted by Stanbic Bank. Patrick Mweheire, the Executive Director Stanbic Bank Uganda says the bank will partner will the Go Green initiatives to tap from the Green bond and other functional funds to raise more funds to the Biodiversity pool”
The group hosted the first fundraiser in Kampala on Tuesday morning collecting an undisclosed amount of money in pledges. Kyokunda says more than 200 people have pledged to contribute to the fund.
Alfred Okidi, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Water and Environment says Uganda is losing 11 per cent of the 19,000 biodiversity species worth 4.5 Trillion dollars in ecosystem values annually. He says lots of focus is given to forests and wetland conservation without significant consideration for other aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity.
Okidi says forest deforestation and degradation has rebounded from 9.8 to 10.2 per cent in 2019 with major concerns remaining in Northern Uganda and Eastern Uganda. He says for meaningful conservation of biodiversity; the country requires 100 Billion dollars annually and yet the government is currently contributing only 10 Billion dollars annually.
According to Okidi, there is an urgent need to conserve biodiversity because any imbalance on them will affect the wider population around them. He urged the environmentalists to take advantage of the United Nations Climate Change Adaptation and the Green Climate Fund’s 50 Million dollar grants for their mission.
*****
URN
