THE CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT AS A COMMON
Importance of 3 environmental commons in Uganda.
Mugira Fredrick

“It was a community which resulted from the fact that those things which were common to all belonged no more to one other to the others, and hence no one could prevent another from taking these common things that portion which he judged necessary in order to subsurve his wants from.”
Geerv. Connecticut, 161 U.S, 519 (1896).

The central focus of this essay is on discussing what the concept of environment, as a commons is all about and analyzing the economic importance of three environmental commons in my country Uganda.

Commons means things common to all or rather a property that is for the public and no individual can come up to demand the ownership.
Wipikedia encyclopedia[1], defines the word “commons” to mean, “any sets of resources that a community recognizes as being accessible to any member of the community.”
This draws attention to the fact that any member of the community has a right to use of the commons.
Wikipedia Encyclopedia identifies some of the examples of commons as “land and rivers while Chiras (2001), Kraus (2000), Mckinney and Schoch (2003) and Narayan et al (2000) identify some other commons as atmosphere, the oceans, ozone layer and pasture, forests, woodlands, lakes, rivers and common grazing lands.

Therefore, environment as a commons would mean that environment is a common resource shared by all. In other words, no human being on earth owns environment. It is for all human beings and its mismanagement affects the whole system and not that particular place only.

The environment in this case becomes a common property resource, which Pearce and Tuner (1990:250) identify as that resource “owned by some defined group of people, a community, a nation.” It is important to note that as Pearce and Tuner (1990:250) write, “there is open access” to the resource and people or rather residents of that particular place are “permitted to make whatever use they wish of the resource.”

(Bailley) argues that environmental commons are, “those things extra patrimoiium (incapable of being possessed) and thus available and necessary to all organisms. These fundamental resources by their dynamic nature include water, air and biological and genetic diversity.” This brings to the attention the fact that environmental commons mean the natural resources that are common to all. Those that are owned collectively and never privately. Their access is free to all member of that particular area or village or country.

There is no restriction to environment, all human beings have free access to it. It is a shared resource among the human beings and as O’riordan (1997:347) notes, “membership is just because ‘human beings’ belong to the ‘world’.

As O’riordan (1997:17) argues that, “in the commons, people recognize their dependency on each other and the earth that supports them.” This calls for collective responsibility over the commons.

However it is important to note that following lack of specified ownership chances of over exploitation and mismanagement or rather what is sometimes termed as tragedy of commons are high. Chiras (2001:246) notes that, “the logic that compels people to abuse communal holdings has been with humankind as long as common property has.”
Chiras (2001), give an example of exploited and mismanaged common as the overgrazed communal property of the Sahel. This brings to the attention of the fact that the view of environment as a common could be leading to more of its destruction than mismanagement. This is due to lack of private ownership.

There are several environmental commons in my country Uganda. Some of these include rivers, lakes, National Parks, range lands and forests. However, for the purposes of the essay, I have selected to concentrate on National Parks, forests and lakes. The remaining parts of this essay will analyze the economic importance of these three environmental commons.

National Parks:
A National park, according to Wikipedia Encyclopedia is “a resource of land, usually owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution.” In such a reserved land, there are wild animals, plants, birds, unusual geological features to mention but a few.

Most of the National Parks in Uganda are mostly situated in western parts of the country. They include Bwindi impenetrable forest, Queen Elizabeth, Mt. Rwenzori, Mt. Elgon, Murchison falls, Lake Mburo, Kidepo valley, and Kibale National Parks.

One of the economic importances of National Parks in the country is the provision of the employment. From park rangers to tour guides and wardens, all these are employed by the National Parks to give services there. Through this, the people employed earn a living through salaries and wages they are paid. It is important to note that inside these parks, there are also several hotels and lodges all of which employ several people as service providers there.

Secondly, National Parks attract tourists to the country who bring with them foreign exchange. Several tourists have been flocking into Uganda mostly from developed countries of US, Britain and Sweden to tour the National Parks. When these tourists come to Uganda, they pay money to the Parks before they visit them. They also spend on things like food and accommodation, all of which help the nation to get foreign exchange.
Tourists also pay for activities they do in these parks such as sport hunting which is going on in Lake Mburo National Park and mountain climbing in Mr. Rwenzori National Park.
It is important to note here that National Parks in Uganda do not only earn to the nation foreign exchange but also some Ugandans visit them and they end up paying some fee.



National Parks are also a major source of revenue to government especially after taxation. Annually parks are taxed by the government and this money goes directly to the development of the nation. As NEMA (2001:28) notes, the country earns “approximately UShs 2.7 billion annually,” from tourism. Some parks also share their revenues directly with the neighboring communities, the revenue they earn. They usually give about 20 percent of the money collected as park entrance fee to the communities surrounding the park as a move intended to share with them revenues collected. This also helps in the development of these communities.

More still, hides skins, horns, meat and all those rare things from the parks help the parks and the nation at large to earn money when they are sold. Some restaurants in the country have specialized in selling meat of wild animals while some shops also sell commodities delivered from the park. All this means that at least money is earned by the park managers when they sell these items to those who deal in them.

National parks are also used as ranches sometimes. This is going on in Lake Mburo National Park especially during the dry seasons. This helps farmers in raising their livestock, which they depend on in from of milk, meat, and revenue after selling them.

Forests:-
MFPED (2003:113) notes that, “forests and woodlands cover 24 percent of the total land area in Uganda.” This draws attention to the fact that forests and woodlands in Uganda play a big role in the country. NEMA (2001:27) discloses that, “currently Uganda has about 49,500km2 of forests consisting of tropical high forests and savanna woodland (99%) and plantation (1%).”

Most of the natural forests in the country have for the past few years been changed from gazetted forests reserves to National Parks such as those in Bwindi, Rwenzori and Mugahinga among others.

According to NEMA (2001:27), “more than 50% of the forests and woodlands in Uganda lie outside protected areas with no legal or institution framework for their management.” In other words, there is free access to them as a commons should be. Some of the national forests in Uganda include Imaramagambo, Karinju, and Mabira to mention but a few.

One of the economic importances of forests in Uganda is provision of employment. NEMA (2001:28) notes that, “the forest sector creates significant employment, probably the equivalent of nearly one million jobs.” Such jobs are occupied by people who do lumbering, who look after the forests, people engaged in management of nursery beds, and seedlings without forgetting those who burn trees to make charcoal.
This helps those people to earn income in form of salaries and wages they get from these businesses.

Secondly, forests in Uganda are a source of revenue to the government. NEMA (2001:28) observes that, “the current annual turnover of business in forestry is about UShs 356 billion, with a further estimated annual value of UShs 112 billion attributed to environmental services.” Government earns revenue from the forests after selling of products from them such as timbers and logs. It is important to note that such revenue help in the development of the nation.

Thirdly forests are a source of raw materials for construction and furniture making. Such products when sold, they help the country or community to earn money. Such products too help local people to construct shelters, which are necessary for one to live a health life. One can never be economically well off without a health life.

Forests also are a source of energy in the country. According to NEMA (2001:28), “90% of national energy” comes from “wood fuels”. Such energy is in form of firewoods and charcoal, all of which help people to cook their food, light and do other activities.
It is important to note that wood energy is cheap. However, it is greatly leading to deforestation of forests in the country.

More still, forests in Uganda are a major source of medicinal plants. Such medicine is used most in rural areas and even in urban areas of Uganda to heal several diseases of the people such as malaria, stomach problems to mention but a few. Most people earn a living from selling herbs collected from these forests, which are used to make herbal medicine.

Forests in the country are a host of several National Parks which attract tourists. NEMA (2001:28) notes that, “much tourism in Uganda is based on forests, woodlands and their constituent wild and natural beauty.” Tourists bring into the country foreign exchange
As NEMA (2001:27) notes, “forests in Uganda such as “Mgahinga, Bwindi, Rwenzori, Semuliki, Kibale and Mt. Elgon were changed from gazetted forests reserves to National Parks.” This draws attention to the fact that forests are a major host of National parks. It is important to note that some forests themselves attract tourists and scientists who bring into the country foreign exchange.

I cannot forget to mention that forests in Uganda are a source of foods of different types for the people. Some people do collect such foods from forests and sell them into markets hence earning a lot of income. Such foods include mostly fruits and edible wildlife such as rabbits and wild pigs among others.

Lastly, forests are a source of craft materials which have helped the craft industry to flourish in the country. Such crafts materials include those used to make items like baskets, traditional hats, mats among others. All these are a source of revenue to the people engaged in this business.

Lakes:
Major lakes of Uganda include Victoria, Albert, George, Edward, Kyoga and Kwania.
NEMA (2001:50) notes that, “open water bodies constitute 15% of the area of Uganda (36, 280km2)”

One of the economic importances of lakes in Uganda includes provision of water for irrigation, a thing that helps in the production of crops such as rice.
NEMA (2001:55) reveals that, “currently it is estimated that about 207 million m3 of water is used annually for irrigation.” With this certainly there has been increased agricultural production due to irrigation of the crops which would otherwise fail to grow well due to lack of enough water. Increased agricultural production means increased revenue to the farmers and the government after taxations and export

Secondly, lakes in Uganda are a source of fish. Fish in Uganda is consumed locally and also exported to foreign countries. This helps the people engaged in this business to earn income while on the side of the government; a lot of revenue is attained as fish is exported to foreign countries.

Lakes also provide employment opportunities to several people in the country. From fishermen, to fishmongers, Lake Managers and specialists, all these earn salaries and wages from the activities they operate on and around lakes.
With increased levels of un-employment in Uganda, Lakes are seen as a rescue for people who are brave enough to carry out activities on the waters.

It is important to note that like National Parks and Forests, lakes attract tourists. Lakes in Uganda such as Victoria, Kyoga and Albert are major tourist attractors. When these tourists arrive in the country, they bring with them foreign exchange. They also spend on several other things while they are in the country, all of which leaves the government and local people who operate businesses targeting tourists with income for their well being and poverty eradication.

Lakes are also a source of water for both domestic and livestock use. NEMA (2001:54) notes that, “with the population almost doubling between 1991 and 2010 in both rural and urban areas, the demand for water will likewise at least double.” Lakes are always there to provide water to people. Most of the water supplied in towns originates from lakes such as Lake Victoria which supplies Kampala city.

Likewise, NEMA (2001:54) notes that, “water for livestock constitutes a significant form of water use especially in the semi and pastoral areas where surface water sources are scarce and long dry periods are common.” An example here include Lake Mburo which is always a source of water for livestock for pastoralists during dry seasons. Without water, people and livestock would not be there or rather would not live a better economic life.

Lakes are also a source of craft materials, which are used in production of several crafts, such crafts including mats, traditional huts, and baskets among others are a source of income to people engaged in this activity.

This essay has observed that environmental commons in Uganda contribute significantly to the livelihoods of the local people and also help the government much in different ways mostly in revenue raising. This therefore calls on the people and government to take responsibility in owning communally and looking after environmental commons rather than leaving them to no one since their access is free and unrestricted.

REFERENCES:-
Chivas.D.D (2001) Environmental Science Creating Sustainable Feature (6th Edition). London: Jonies and Bartlett Publishers.

Krus.C (2000) Import Tarrifs as environmental policy instruments Kruuer Academic Publishers.

Mckenney.M.L and Schoch.R.M (2003). Environment Science systems and solutions (Third Edition). London: Jonies and Bartlett Publishers.

Narayin.D, Chambers.R,Shah.M.K,Petesch.P (2000) Voices of the poor crying out for change New York: Oxford University Press.

National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), (2001) State of the environment report 2000/2001. Kampala. Uganda

National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), 1998. Caring for our Environment and a handbook for local leaders. Kampala: Industrial Graphics Systems Ltd.

O’riordan.T (1997) Environmental Science for Environmental Management. Singapore Longman Group Ltd

Pearce.D.W and Tuner.R.K (1990) Economics of Natural Resources and Environment. Great Britain: John Hopkins University.
[1] An online encyclopedia

WOMEN IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Mugira Fredrick

This essay concentrates on assessing the importance of including women in natural resource management.
Women, the plural form of woman is used commonly to imply to adult female humans, while natural resources according to Wikipedia encyclopedia refer to, "naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified form." Rodda (1977:72) notes that, “natural resources can be grouped under two categories; renewable and none renewable.” She continues to elaborate ibid that, “the renewable natural resources are mainly plants, and vegetables, animals and humans (while) the non renewable resources are those of water and land.” This draws attention to the fact that natural resources entail man and his surroundings.

Traditionally, women have been excluded from the management of these natural resources this is partly because females and males play different roles in the community.

There are roles that are seen as for males alone and those that are viewed at as belonging to females alone. As Narayan et al (2000:115) argue, “man (is seen) as the provider for the family and the woman taking care of the home.” This draws attention to the fact that society naturally distributes roles that fall under the brackets of production of goods and services, activities done at a community level, and decision making to different people depending on their gender identity or rather what Gregson et al (1997:53) cited in Hatfield ( 2003:3) call, “male or female.”

Women for example have been known traditionally to be engaged much in home chores such as cooking, caring for children and washing of clothes among others. Wilkins (2005:266) writes, “over all women are constituted in most passive roles,” and have not been effectively integrated into the management of the natural resources as Rodda (1997:76) argues that,
“to date, women have not really been perceived to be part of the natural environment conservation scene.”

Meanwhile the females, counterparts, the males are traditionally viewed at as playing several roles in the society such as being decision makers, breadwinners of the family and natural resources managers too.

However, there is need for change in the traditionally gender division of labour to include mostly the women in the management of natural resource.
As Rodda (1997:72) writes, “there is little dispute over the importance of women in managing natural resources, particularly in the development countries.”

Some of these importance include;
The need to have them participate practically in development process of their communities.
Following the failure of modernization and dependency development paradigms, alternative development paradigm which Pieterse (2002:74) notes that implies, “a definite theoretical break with main stream development,” is being employed to bring about an end to misery as a result of underdevelopment in the community.

This paradigm is pro - people and as Pieterse (2002:750) puts it, it is “participatory and people centered.” It gives a chance to everyone regardless of gender and age to participate in development process. With this paradigm, therefore women are seen as patterns of men in bringing about development at household, community and national levels.

This, certainly calls for involvement of women in all affairs including management of natural resources if a participatory and people centered development is to be achieved which could subsequently lead to a sustainable development based on the balanced use of natural resources. .

Secondly, due to the nature of their traditional roles, women come into contact with natural resources so often, this calls for their involvement in management and protection of these resources or else women could, ignorantly destroy these resources to the point of extinction. As Rodda (1997:47) notes, women have direct contact with natural resources , “as they collect essential items for their everyday needs…, (they are) collectors of fuel, food and fodders , water collectors and carries , consumers of industrial goods as producers , farmers and farm workers, as wage labors.” Buckingham (2003) drives this point home when she notes, that traditional roles of women as carers of home and family is extended to the resource which contribute to this. This resource is non other than the natural resource.

Rodda (1997:76) also argues that, “ because of the various roles women play in food processing , farming , agricultural management and family health, it is crucial that their understanding of environmental issues should be increased and their knowledge and skills taken into account in the conservation of natural resources.”

All this puts emphasis to the fact that women due to the nature of their work access natural resources very easily and always, so there is need to involve them in the management of these resources so that they can know the costs and benefits of the sustainable use of these natural resources.

Thirdly with increased poverty levels especially in the southern countries there is need to fight it from two sides as a move intended to eradicate it successfully.. As Narayan et al (2000:11) argue, “in several places, people stress that the poorer the household, the more likely it is that the women will be involved in some form of work,” which was not traditionally theirs.

Likewise Neft and Levine, (1997), Steevens (2000) cited in Wilkins (2005:262) argue that “ women are more likely than men to suffer from poverty, with their access restricted to critical education, health employment and political.” It is important to note that poverty is one of the major causes of natural resource degradation
This draws attention to the fact for the campaign to eradicate poverty to succeed,
women should be left to manage natural resources in their possession and put them to the uses so as to get incomes.

Fourthly, women in the world account for the highest percentage, therefore bringing them on board to be managers of natural resources would mean increased man power in this field. It is important to note that women who are the majority everywhere in the world and most especially in the developing countries constitute the rural poor majority who depend on non other than environment for their lives, so if these women were brought on board as natural resource managers, they would effectively do it more than men do after all men are the minority.

Fifthly, with increased killer diseases in the world and most especially the developing world, such as HIV/Aids, Malaria and Ebola, deaths of men heads of families have been rampant. In times when death takes way the man who has been fulfilling the duty of managing natural resources, if there is no substitute, then such resources could vanish. Therefore there is need to plan for the future early enough and involve both women in management of natural resources so that if their husbands succumb to death, the they (widows) manages the natural resources effectively to benefit the family.

More still women have a wide local knowledge on natural resource management therefore including them in natural resource management would help to tap on this knowledge. Take an example as Bakingham (2003:1) writes that, “ their social role as the main unpaid domestic workers in each household brings them closer to an awareness of environmental hazard whether it is by shopping for food …, preparing that food for safe eating, or caring for the health of their children.” This draws attention to the fact that women have a lot of knowledge on the natural resources and it can be cheaply tapped by engaging them in the management of these resources.

In addition, including women in natural resource management would be another way of empowering them economically among others. By making women managers of these resources, would be helping them to have a ‘say’ in the returns from them. This subsequently would lead to empowerment of women. The last 40 years have seen several movements spring up meant mostly to end inequalities and discrimination based and gender differences.

Movements like Gender Equity Empowerment Framework, Gender and Development, Movement towards recognizing Woman’s roles in Development (WID) have all led to changes in gender division of labor in Africa with mostly females being brought up to limelight to compete with males in several positions . Such movements have helped to address gender gaps at various levels and subsequently led to increased access of females to education, access to information and control of resources and benefits. Such movements would be rendered a failure if women are left out of management of natural resources because these resources are the foundation for everything , from money , to good health to ending poverty and happy life.

Another importance of including women in natural resource management is that women can easily be used as channels of communication for conservation of natural resources. As already noted in this essay, women are the majority and are knowledgeable about local natural resources. On top of these two factors, women also have several organizations that unite them. They meet regularly to share their concerns. Due to these factors, if women are include in the management of natural resources they can effectively help to pass on information concerning natural resource management from one person to another including their husbands and children. This would subsequently help to disseminate information concerning effective conservation of natural resources.

Lastly including women in natural resource management would help to make them feel the ownership of these resources. This means that they there is a chance that they would relate to these resources friendly and that their activities and impacts on the natural resources would be sustainable. This is important because as already noted in this essay, women have direct and repetitive contact with environment due to the nature of their traditional roles. This would also make them play positive roles towards sustainability of these resources because they would be seeing them as theirs.

On the other hand, including women in natural resource management could have negative effects on the society.
These could include distortion of the traditions and norms. Traditionally women have been kept out of natural resource management not for granted but because they concentrated on domestic spheres to offer family care services such as cooking , laundry and procreation. This means that if they take active roles in management of natural resources, they may give up some of their traditional roles hence no one may perform them. No wonder some women are now giving up their traditional roles of caring for children and leaving it to housemaids.

Secondly including women in natural resource management this would lead to competition for this role between men and women. Although sometimes competition is health, it may also come with problems such as do0mestic violence as a man tries to keep the wife from performing such roles.

Lastly this would also cause unemployment for men who have been performing these roles because there would be increased man power on the market and most especially the manpower that is much more knowledgeable than men.

References

Creedon, P.J. (1993). The challenges of re-visioning Gender Values. In P.J .Creedon (ed.) Women in Mass communication (2nd ed). (pp.-23). California : Sage Publications lnc.


Interviews I had with some residents of Kalangala between 24-26 March 2006 during a study tour for Postgraduate Environmental Journalism and Communication students of Makerere University 2005/6.

Narayan , N. Chambers , R. Shan , M. K. Petesch , P. (2000) .Voices of the Poor Crying Out of Change. Washington: Oxford press.

Pieterse, J.N.(2002). Development Theory Deconstructions /Reconstructions.
Skelton T, and Allen T (2005).Culture and Global change an introduction. London: Sage Publications

Wikipedia encyclopedia at www.wikipedia.com accessed on 1st April 2006.

Wilkins, K .G. (2005). Out of focus: Gender visibilities in development. In O. Hemer and T. Tufte (ed). Media and Global Change Rethinking Communication for Development (PP.261-270) . Buenos Aires: Nordicon

BODA BODA: Uganda’s youth liberator

Mugira Fredrick

When he dropped out of school, Moses Mugyema’s future seemed bleak and irretrievable. But the 25 year old known to his fellow Boda Boda operators as Brown has distinguished himself as a self-made man with a host of stunning achievements to name.

Within 5 years, he has transformed himself from a just school dropout to a respectable citizen who owns an iron roofed house, a farm with 10 Ankole long horned cows and a video hall.

Mugyenyi is just one of over 100.000 youths in Uganda that are in this business of ridding commercial motorcycle Boda Bodas. These motorcycles which started about a decade ago as an innovation of bicycle Boda bodas carry passengers and sometimes goods.

With day by day increase in unemployment of youths in Uganda, youths, especially those unemployed see Boda Boda ridding as their only liberator to ending unemployment problem. The chairperson of the National Boda Boda Cyclists Cooperative savings and Credit Society (BOCOSACS), Masokoyi Abdu says: “Over 100,000 youths countrywide are in this business” of ridding Boda Boda commercial Motorcycles.

“When you enter this business with a plan, you can become rich” Masokoyi says. He says that most youths in the country who are in this business have been able to raise funds for helping them to “marry”, buy land, open up shops and “take their children to schools”.

Expressing himself in Luganda, Ismail Lutamanyira, 33, a boda boda cyclist in Kampala said, he makes between 10,000 shillings to 15,000 per day depending on the situation. He owns and operates his own Boda Boda and has been in this trade for 5 years. He is marries with two sons.

What is more interesting is that the business of ridding Boda Boda Motorcycles is not only acting as a savior for youths in Uganda to get jobs but also helping others to join politics.

BOCOSACS’ boss Masokoyi says “Nine Boda Boda cyclists are vowing to vie for various political seats in different parts of the country in the next National”.

“One of them wants to compete for the MP seat in Kampala city, another wants Masindi district chairmanship seat, while others wants to be councilors at different local council levels” Masokoyi stressed. He however could not mention their names for what he called security reasons.

Mid this year, a Boda Boda cyclist, Kushemererwa Laurence competed with 4 other contestants in the Mbarara Municipality MP by-elections. He managed to be the second to the winner John Kigyagi. Among others contestants Kushemerewa won was a lawyer with the NRM secretariat.

Coincidently Boda Boda’s are not only a savior to the riders, they help their fight poverty.

Ngulu, 28 operating form Makerere University Gate sate in Kampala says he pays 7,000 shillings to the motorcycle owner per day.

On the side of government, millions of shillings from the Boda Bodas inform of Road Licenses and Insurances. According to the Uganda revenue authority (URA), a motorcycle pays these taxes according to its engine capacity (C.C). 500 shillings is paid for each C.C. The most common Boda Boda cycles have 50 and 100 C.Cs. there are about 100.000 boda boda motorcycelks in the country which pay these taxes annually.
Boda Boda Motorcycles are also cheap which makes them an ideal transport means for the poor people. According to Ngulu most on most of the routes they charge 500 shillings of 1000 shillings.

They are also faster and usually not affected by the traffic jams. A student at Makerere University Okiror Steven says: “I use Boda Bodas every time I am going to campus for studies and back to the hostel in Bakuli”.

“They are convenient and can be found almost everywhere, unlike taxis”. Okiror continued to reveal.

However, critics of Boda Bodas especially environmentalists say though Boda Boda Motor cycles are saying the youths from unemployment b, they are killing them slowly. “Second had or order two-stroke Motorbikes are serious causes of air pollution”. Says World Bank Environmental economist Noreen berg. He says Motorcycle’s drivers who spend 10-15 hours on the streets are usually using their lungs to clean the air.

More Several Boda Boda drivers have also lost their lives in accidents.
According to the regional Traffic officer Kampala Extra, Gabriel Tibayungwa, in the year 2002, over 600 Motorcyclist died in road traffic accidents and too suffered from injuries.

Society in Uganda has also been accusing Boda Boda riders of being the leading defilers especially of the girl children to transport to schools everyday.

Boda Boda ridding , a profession that employs most youths , who would otherwise be in villages loitering and doing all sorts of insecurity acts there should not be taken as a mere job. Government and stakeholders need to put in more in this sector to attract more unemployed youths into it.

Africa Must Double Its Investment in Clean Water

Mugira Fredrick.

It is budget time in most of countries in Africa now. Huge amounts of money, as usual are going to funding sectors including those of defense, agriculture and infrastructure development. As experience has shown, not much is likely to go to solving what has been described as a ‘global crisis.’

While speaking at a May 16 hearing of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Donald Payne, the chairman of the sub-committee said that lack of clean water worldwide, especially in Africa, is a “global crisis.” True. This is something that should be addressed now.

“Lack of clean water,” as Payne put it, “claims the lives of 4,900 children everyday,” in Africa. How long shall this continue while African governments look on? Something must be done now. The campaign and support being devoted to putting to an end to crises such as that in Darfur region of Sudan, Eastern Chad and the rebel Lord Resistance Army affected region of Northern Uganda and southern Sudan must be extended to providing safe water to Africans too.

Whereas Africa, especially the Sub-Saharan Africa has a great potential for water provision, access to clean drinking water and water for productive purposes remains inadequate. Most of the countries receive rains throughout the year or two seasons a year. But what is disturbing is that according to statistics, only about 4 percent of rain water is used which leaves the rest to proceed to wetlands, rivers , lakes and sea without being put to fruitful use.

Must this water be wasted while problems as a result of shortage and lack of safe water continue to hit hard? No, something must be done. Cheap technologies should be devised to tap this rain water. For example in Uganda, the government is encouraging construction of rain water harvesting tanks. These are okay but might not be affordable o rural persons who are the majority that face the problem of lack of safe drinking water most. The government which collects taxes from the same persons who face lack of safe water should therefore come in to invest in helping them construct these tanks.

One of the initiatives could include helping these local people to access cheap plastic water tanks. Governments could buy these tanks, distribute them to every home and then people pay for them in installments or rather on a loan basis.

This might be seen as something usual. However neglecting it gives birth to something unusual. It is widely known that lack of clean water and sanitation leads to several diseases such as cholera , malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, river blindness, sleeping sickness, guinea worm, bilharzias, scabies to mention but a few. But what is amusing most governments in Africa have continued to allocate big amounts of their budget to strategies aimed at treating these diseases and not preventing them such as improving safe water access.

Just take an example of statistics by African Medical and Research Foundation – AMREF that “70 percent of East African Hospital visits are caused by contaminated water.” How much do the three East African governments spend on treating these people? What if such funds are invested in helping the local people access safe water? May be the percentage would reduce to 10 or none.

With the prevalence of such diseases still high in most African countries, it remains hard to believe that the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that targets to reduce by half by 2015, the number of people without access to clean water will be achieved.

However, most African governments still dream of achieving this. These dreams therefore should lie mostly in doubling investments targeting people’s access to clean water. A priority should be given to cheap and appropriate technologies such as the use of rain water harvesting tanks which governments can buy and distribute to people. Emphasis should be put on educating and sensitizing communities and households on harvesting and storage of water from their roofs especially those who have modern roofs.

Extending piped water to many homes and subsidizing its costs to make it affordable to local people right from those living in mansions to those living in grass-thatched single rooms in slums is important too. More gravity flow water schemes should also be constructed too. Governments should also help local people in digging shallow wells where clean water can be collected.

It is also important that African governments cease relying on money from donors to help them provide safe water to their own local people. The tendency of “let’s wait for our teacher to help us find solutions” should cease.

It is true, agencies like the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) which funded water supply activities and hygiene programmes worth 91.6 million dollars for the 2006-2007 fiscal year in more than 30 African countries should be commended. But African governments must not relegate their duty of providing safe water to their citizens to such agencies.

CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN UGANDA
1. Modification of physical environment by;
(i) Deforestation as in the case of Kalangala Islands and Mabira forest that is in pipeline.
(ii) Encroachment on wetlands. This is currently going on in Kampala city and several other towns as people try to construct residential houses. It is also in rural areas as farmers try to expand their farms.
(iii) Land fragmentation in places like Kabale as population increases.
(iv) Soil erosion especially in hilly areas of South Western Uganda. This is leading to silting of rivers such as River Rwizi and Kagera.
(v) Over exploitation of lake resources, as in the case of Lake Victoria, Albert and George where fishermen are fishing indiscriminately.
2. Human overpopulation. This is leading to diminishing habitants for other species as people expand their settlements and farms. It is leading to over exploitation of land and soil fertility exhaustion like in Buganda region. It is also leading to congestion in towns especially in slums which subsequently leads to diseases, such as cholera
3. Poor management of wastes in towns. This is leading to diseases such as
Cholera too.
4. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria that make people sick/ kill them.

HOW TO INCREASE AWARENESS
1. Sensitization. This can be done through media, political rallies, public debates, schools and others.
2. Through trainings such as those of environmental journalists, environment officers/scientists who can ably guide people to protect the environment.
3. Physical participation to be seen as role models.
CHALLENGES:-
• Lack of capital for sensitization such as buying air space on radio. Also like in the case of lack of enough money to pay reporters to investigate on environmental issues which is hard for private media companies.
• Lack of enough knowledge on environmental protection concepts. This is leading to lack of exposure to concepts in environmental systems among journalists, local leaders and some environmentalists too.
• An important issue therefore that should be addressed by managers and owners of media houses and government is the examination of factors and practices that drive journalists to report on others issues and neglect environment.
• Lack of cooperation from local people, with environmentalists and journalists. This is leading to continued degradation of environmental and also to scarcity of environmental stories on the side of journalists.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 There is need to raise on the number of reporters and journalists who are trained to specialize in covering the field of environment.

 There is also need to create simple environmental language that is accepted not only nationally but also internationally to help break the environmental jargon.

 Further more there is need for everyone involved in advocating for the environment say environmental officers, local leaders to become louder. More practical attention by the stakeholders in conservation of environment could see more people sensitized and well informed about the effects of their actions on environment

 Politicians should be realistic and not see their constituents in wrong and keep quite just because they fear that risking to attack them could mean loss of votes

 Media organizations too, should reorganize the problems associated with environmental degradation and come up with a policy of airing at least an environmental story per bulletin to effectively empower their audiences with knowledge to control this.