Uganda Initiative Group

A drawing by children at St Francis Chapel, Makerere, advocating the conservation of Mabira Forest in Uganda

The launch of A Rocha in Kampala on 18 October 2006 has been greeted with excited support from Ugandans.

Guests at the launch welcomed the initiative, citing the environmental challenges that Uganda is facing such as the receding water levels in Lake Victoria, which threaten the viability of the ecosystem and have led to the production of less electricity.

Another worry is the receding forest cover, which was 16% in 1960 but has reduced today to 4%. This could be because 80% of people in Uganda depend on wood fuel in their homes.

There is also need for a proper waste-disposal system.

It was even said at the launch that 80% of the diseases in Uganda are linked to environmental degradation.

One major problem facing environmentalists in Uganda is the overuse of polythene bags and the failure to dispose of them separately and safely. Polythene bags are a health risk to grazing cattle too.

It is said that 98% of solid waste in Uganda is biodegradable but because it is usually not separated from the 2% non-degradable waste, environmental hazards go unchecked. For example, rainwater does not seep through the soil easily, leading to flooding in some areas.

Sara Kaweesa, the National Co-ordinator

A Rocha’s presence in Uganda came about through the vision to conserve the environment of one young Ugandan woman, Sara Kaweesa.

She said, “When I finished a Master’s degree in Vienna I was looking for something to do that would give me satisfaction but also be useful. I did not want to just get a job and drive a nice car. I prayed and sought God and that’s the vision he gave me and I started making the necessary contacts.”

She first made contact with A Rocha in March 2005, when she went to present her study on Hamerkops at Cambridge.

Sara now serves as the National Co-ordinator of the newly launched Initiative Group. At the same time, she is doing her PhD in Biodiversity Management, with a focus on the Hamerkop or Hammerhead Scopus umbretta, which she refers to as “the king of birds” because it builds the largest and strongest nests.

She says science alone cannot resolve the problem of a degraded environment because it is a moral, spiritual and ethical issue.

“The command to steward or manage the earth is both a huge privilege and a great responsibility.”

Some of the people in the new Initiative Group.

A Rocha in Uganda is under the pastoral care of three Christian leaders who are also its trustees: the Rt Rev Dr Zac Niringiye, Pastor Fred Wantaate and Pastor Gary Skinner.

The organisation has three main objectives:

• Training and increasing awareness about the importance of nature and the current environmental degradation among Christians. This will involve producing conservation training materials, outreach and dissemination of existing materials, mass-media campaigns about nature and the environment, and workshops, seminars and public lectures, involving students of Christian Unions and other organisations in secondary schools and tertiary institutions. There is also a plan for establishing a Christian resource centre.
• Research in areas of great need in Uganda. This will include field research in natural habitats on endangered species, the possibility of restoring degraded sites, for example, through introduction of new species, replanting, etc; research on urban waste disposal in Kampala, human attitudes and utilisation of natural resources among other topics.
• Advocacy, which will involve policy makers at all levels, ie, local, national, international, governmental, NGOs (local and international), including the churches, and lawyers to address environmental cases.

Guests at the launch went home with a challenge from Bishop Niringiye, who said that, contrary to popular thinking, development and conservation are not recent discoveries by humankind. It was God’s plan when he put Adam in the Garden of Eden that he should “work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2.15).

He called upon Christians to repent of misusing the environment. “We’ve worked it but not taken good care of it!” he declared.

Photos: Julia Katorobo