Authorities in Kabale District have launched a major operation aimed at restoring approximately 60 percent of the wetlands degraded over the last decade, warning that recalcitrant encroachers face forced eviction.
Speaking on Friday, the Kabale District Natural Resources Officer, Mr. Henry Tumwesigye, revealed that while officials have prioritized community sensitization on the dangers of wetland degradation and the benefits of restoration, forceful measures will be applied against those who resist voluntary vacation.
‘With the support from the Ministry of Water and Environment, we have embarked on wetland restoration activities and strict measures of protecting the intact wetlands in our district,’ Mr. Tumwesigye said. ‘It is estimated that about 60 percent of the wetlands have been degraded in Kabale District, and this has been as a result of the increasing population and the need for agricultural land.’
Mr. Tumwesigye requested special funding from the central government to establish physical boundary markers separating public wetland areas from private land to mitigate future encroachment risks. He further urged local residents to adopt climate-smart technologies on uplands rather than relying on wetland degradation for crop production and general farming practices.
The ongoing effort builds on enforcement measures undertaken earlier this year. In May, Mr. Tumwesigye, alongside environmental police officers, led an operation that destroyed a banana plantation belonging to St. Peter Kabasigaba Catholic Church in Kagarama Parish, Buhara Sub-County, after it was found planted inside the protected Kabanyonyi-Kyanamira wetland.
‘With support from the United Nations Development Program for mitigating climate-related threats like floods and soil erosion, we are targeting to first restore 19 wetlands that were recently degraded,’ Mr. Tumwesigye added. ‘The 24-hectare Kabanyonyi-Kyanamira wetland, which is the largest of these restoration projects, will be prioritized.’
However, the exercise faces potential legal and financial hurdles. The Kabale LCV Chairman, Mr. Denis Nzeirwe Ndyomugyenyi, called for a cautious approach to the restoration drive, noting that a section of encroachers possess valid legal titles issued by previous administrations.
‘Some time back, the government issued land titles to the farmers that had picked interest to carry out farming practices in wetlands before it accepted to have wetlands turned into arable land for agriculture,’ Mr. Ndyomugyenyi said. ‘Evicting some people from wetland use will require the government to compensate them because they own such pieces of land legally with land titles.’
Concerns over post-eviction economic stability have also been raised by local leadership. The LCIII Chairman for Maziba Sub-County, Mr. Onesmus Mutungye, noted that while farmers in his area voluntarily vacated the Upper Maziba Ikona wetland after receiving alternative livelihood support, additional state assistance is urgently needed.
‘After sensitization community meetings conducted by the government and its partners, farmers that used to have crop gardens in the Upper Maziba Ikona in Maziba Sub-County vacated after receiving livelihood items that included some heifers, goats, chicken, and pigs, among others,’ Mr. Mutungye explained. ‘After realizing that the alternative livelihood items received were not matching with the economic gains, a few individuals are being tempted to return to the restored wetland. Giving someone five chickens as an alternative livelihood to vacate the wetlands where they used to harvest crops worth millions of shillings is not realistic.’
Mr. Mutungye appealed to the government and development partners to provide matching economic projects or full monetary compensation to affected farmers, enabling them to purchase alternative land for sustainable agriculture, food security, and long-term income generation.