Government urged to prioritise biodiversity conservation

Weredwong who was speaking during a stakeholders meeting at Skyz Hotel on Friday said biodiversity is everything to people’s lives which makes it very crucial for it to be protected at all costs.

“Life without biodiversity is nothing. That’s why we need to ensure that it protected at all costs. I am glad that commitments have been made by different stakeholders to find a solution to this problem. I urge the Government to prioritise biodiversity conservation because there are areas that still need to be improved,” he said.

Weredwong also said commitments made by stakeholders are helping strengthen action towards biodiversity conservation.

“The commitments being made by different stakeholders are helping us strengthen action towards biodiversity conservation,” he said, adding that, “it is also going to help strengthen local linkages within existing and on-going efforts and it is helping us build momentum for more engagements for biodiversity sustainability. The world is now seeing us from a different perspective.”

He also said strides have been made such as rallying people behind the biodiversity cause and sensitising and making people aware about what their actions are doing to biodiversity.

Weredwong asked other stakeholders such as the private sector, areligious leaders and civil society to mainstream commitments towards biodiversity conservation.

“I call upon all stakeholders to mainstream their commitments towards biodiversity conservation. The religious leaders, civil society and private sector, please mainstream your commitment towards this call. WWF is more than committed to biodiversity conservation in Uganda,” he said.

Okasia signing on a commitment pledge after the stakeholders meeting Eric Kyama

The Minister of State for Energy, Okasai Olupot, who was the guest of honor at the stakeholders meeting acknowledged the need to conserve biodiversity.

“We have degraded our environment to level of to whom it may concern which is very dangerous. We need to look internally in ourselves. We have cut down our forests and destroyed water bodies. We need to find ways of ensure conservation of biodiversity,” he said.

Okasia assured stakeholders at the meeting of Government support in the fight against biodiversity loss which he said should be intolerable.

Commitments

Some of the commitments that need to be made in the agriculture sector, according to Dr. Robert Nabanyumya, consultant sustainable land management, include: Promotion sustainable of land management practices among smallholder farmers, restoration of degraded habitats and planning for indigenous trees particularly agroforestry.

In the energy sector, he said these include: Establish wood energy plantations, promote and incentivise use of alternative energy sources and promoting and installing efficient cook stoves and equipment such pressure cookers.