Africa-Press – Uganda. Tooro Kingdom has embarked on planting 10 million trees in a campaign aimed at saving the environment in Rwenzori sub-region.Mr Polly Kateeba, the Tooro kingdom minister for lands and environment, on Thursday said the water catchments in the sub-region have been highly degraded while forests, river banks, and wetlands are encroached on.“Lately, we face both floods and severe drought which was not the case before. This is due to environmental degradation” Mr Kateeba said.
According to the kingdom officials, the tree-planting campaign is part of the Save River Mpanga drive started by King Oyo to draw his subjects along the more than 200km river to save its buffer zones and catchment areas.River Mpanga which snakes through Fort Portal City, Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kamwenge and Kitagwenda districts, is a major water source in the area and empties into Lake George, a Ramsar site.
Additionally, the endangered Cycad trees are found around River Mpanga catchment areas. The Mpanga Gorge hosts a unique ecosystem with cascading waterfalls that provide a habitat for the endemic and critically endangered cycad (Encephalartos whitelockii).The Cycad is a large and spectacular species that forms one of the largest and most impressive Cycad populations in Africa.
Kingdom officials added that communities around the Mpanga Gorge ecosystem have been degrading the area through charcoal burning and uncontrolled cultivation, which activities have also threatened the life of the power plant in the area (Mpanga power plant).
The Tooro minister for tourism, Ms Joan Else Kantu, said the kingdom will do all it takes to save River Mpanga and the Mpanga gorge site. “The River Mpanga problem starts at the source upstream [in Karangura, Kabarole District], then to middle stream in Fort Portal city and downstream in Kitagwenda. This is what we must address now,” she said.
Why plant treesMr Steven Emor, the senior officer for Albert water management zone at the Ministry of Water, said planting trees especially in Kabarole District and Fort Portal City is an effort to protect the catchments. -“If you plant trees in your homes and at school, you will always have clean water from River Mpanga. When River Mpanga is dirty, then the water you receive in your homes from taps too will be dirty,” he said.
Last week, the Ministry of Water and Environment together with other partners mobilised communities along River Mpanga and its catchments to plant trees and clean their environment. The ministry also sensitised the communities on safeguarding the environment.
