Africa-Press – Uganda. The Minister of Water and Environment Sam Cheptoris has appealed Ugandans to conserve water and the environment in a bid to contribute to economic transformation.
He made the remarks at the Ministry headquarters at Luzira in Kampala Thursday while addressing journalists ahead of the Uganda Water and Environment Week that is slated to run from March 21 2021 to March 26 2021.
“When you focus on improving natural resource utilisation and reduction on environmental degradation, you will realise sustainable economic growth and livelihood security while adding value to key growth opportunities,” Cheptoris said.
The Uganda Water and Environment Week (UWEWK) is an annual event organised by my Ministry and spearheaded by the Water Resources Institute. Since its initiation in 2018, the event seeks to provide an interface for sector actors and other stakeholders to dialogue and exchange views, knowledge and experiences on issues related to Uganda’s water and environment resources.
This year’s event will include commemoration of three important International Days: World Forest Day, World Water Day and World Meteorological Day on March 22 2021.
The Uganda water week 2021 is intrinsically linked to National Development Plan 3 (NDP III) whose key goal is to increase the average Ugandan households’ incomes and equally improve the quality life of the citizens.
“The overall theme of the water and environment week is water and environment security for socio-economic transformation of Uganda. The overall goal of the week is improved understanding of the centrality and value of water and environment resources for transforming Uganda’s economy and improved livelihoods,” Minister Cheptoris added.
Some of the objectives of the week are to highlight the value of water and environment resources for socio-economic transformation of Uganda and deliberating on the role of water and environment resources in maintaining security, peace, public health and sustainable urban growth and improved livelihoods.
According to Cheptoris, some of the key highlights of the week include walking for water, environment, climate change and public health from March 9 to March 20 2021. The walk will begin from Ministry of Water and Environment headquarters in Luzira through various districts up to River Nyamwamba catchment in Kasese district. It will be led by the Uganda Walkers Association and ministry officials and other stakeholders at various locations along the route.
Within the same period, there will be a three weeks’ boat expedition on Lake Victoria from Kisumu-Kenya through Uganda to Tanzania. The Flipflopi expedition will be flagged off on March 7 2021 in Kisumu to start its Journey around Lake Victoria.
The purpose of the expedition is to raise awareness on the environmental challenges facing Lake Victoria with a big emphasis on single use plastics. The boat which is made up of plastics will make several stops in Uganda at Jinja on March 14 and Kampala at Port Bell on March 20 and Entebbe on March 21 2021. The expedition will end in Mwanza-Tanzania. It will highlight climate and pollution issues affecting the lake as well as encouraging cross-border collaborations.
