Scoping mission for Wetlands without borders

Wetlands play an essential role in supporting food security, protecting our water resources and adapting to climate change. Vegetation roots protect waterway banks from erosion and slow the progress of floodwaters. Water quality improvement is a key function, with wetland vegetation protecting surface waters from pathogens, turbidity, nutrient-enriched run-off and waterborne spread of weed species. Wetlands are threatened with degradation by human activities as most people are ignorant of their crucial hydrological and ecological functions and consider them undesirable.

To address these issues the project Wetlands without borders is focusing on the development of Monographs, Wetlands Management Plans and Conservation Investment Plans for three transboundary wetlands:

- Sio-Siteko between Uganda and Kenya

- Sango Bay Minziro between Uganda and Tanzania

- Semliki Delta between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Encroachment on the wetlands, deforestation, sand harvesting, invasive species, conversion of wetlands for agricultural activities, and waste discharge into the water bodies continue to imperil the local population, their livelihoods and key public infrastructure. Developing and implementing site-specific wetland management plans is a key step towards achieving the sustainability of a wetland.  The transboundary nature of these wetlands, and the lack of harmony among the respective countries, has hindered the conservation and management of these wetlands. Environmental management policy and legislative frameworks between bordering countries are not exactly the same.

The overall goal of wetland management planning is to achieve optimal utilization of the wetland resources while providing continued benefits to the immediate and distant communities both now and in the future. Currently our colleagues Harmen van der Berg and Anouk Gevaert are in Uganda, for a 3-week scoping mission for the project.

The project is funded by the German agency for technical cooperation (GIZ) through the Nile basin initiative. Project lead is Wetlands International.

For more information, please contact our colleage Harmen van den Berg. (mailto:harmen.vandenberg@acaciawater.com)