Writes: Kayiso Fulgencio (PhD)
Manager, Livelihoods & Environmental Stewardship
Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU)
fkayiso@ircu.or.ug
It is about seven years ago since President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni ordered the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), to combat the selfish fisher folk using illegal and destructive fishing gears on the Lake Victoria and other water bodies. Enforcing a 2017 directive to eradicate illegal fishing, the army is reportedly went on to confiscate equipment, burn nets and boats worth billions of shillings, intimidate and harass fisher folk. Some fishermen have allegedly died during operations by the enforcement crews, and other culprits prosecuted.
On a positive note though, according to a Science Africa report, there is a record increase in the fish fauna
albeit a harsh enforcement action . Data from a 2020 hydro-acoustic survey showed an increase in the average fish size, particularly in the Uganda part of the lake – Hurray UPDF!
However, the resounding victory of a military enforcement action to save fisheries resources from depletion by the recalcitrant fishermen and avaricious middlemen, is neutered by the unparalleled inattention accorded to illicit, wanton destruction of forest resources in Kalangala district.
According to the New Vision dated 27 July, 2024, a “National Forestry Authority (NFA), officer and six rangers” were arrested over forest destruction in Kalangala district. Residents of Mugoye sub- county informed the Residential District Commissioner and the security agencies that on several occasions the NFA officer provided security to encroachers engaged in illegal felling down of trees for timber in the forest reserve.
Science Africa (2023). “He was really beaten”: Violence towards fishers continues on Lake Victoria” https://www.investigative.earth/news/uganda-lake-victoria-fishers. Alec Jacobson (2019) “Fishermen strive to survive on the world’s second largest lake”. Environment News. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/uganda- military-cracks-down-illegal-fishing-lake-victoria (accessed 21/08/2024)
Samuel Nkuba (2024) “NFA officer, six rangers detained over forest destruction” (New Vision, July 27, 2024)
“Timber is being ferried at night under the protection of non-uniformed officers who were always armed with guns. This created fear among us of approaching them for questioning who they really are , told a one LC I chairperson (names withheld).
It is reported that Kalangala has 32 forest reserves which are no longer intact due to encroachers. These are remotely located on different islands across Lake Victoria.
Suffice to note that Kalangala’s central forests seem to be intact on their edges; however, encroachers use this facade to traverse into the middle where vision is difficult and start cutting down trees for timber and charcoal burning – “One step forward, two steps backwards“
For a number of years, the Kalangala district officialdom played the fiddle while Rome.They unashamedly witnessed massive destruction of the erstwhile pristine forest resources by illegal loggers and wood fuel dealers. Surprisingly, the local and national watchdog institutions mandated to superintend the sustainable use and management of environmental resources – NEMA and NFA- did no less. They slumbered away in their comfort zones to the detriment of the (good) governance of the vast lacustrine resources.
It is intriguing that the UPDF enforcement unit, an avowed crusader for the recovery of fisheries resources is ‘unaware’ of the deliberate attempts to denude the islands of their invaluable forest resources. It is perplexing that armed “fisheries protectors” seem not to comprehend the ecological nexus of terrestrial and aquatic biota anchored in the fundamentals of ecosystem-based fisheries management. Were they
aware, they would, probably, have hastened to extend their military patrols beyond illegal fishers, to crack yet another equally dangerous enemy-category; the illegal dealers/loggers and destroyers of forest resources in the riparian ecosystem.
The socio-economic and ecological consequences of deforestation by the cartels of greedy outlaws are mind-boggling. Aside from the discernible local impacts of deforestation, including increased erosion, topsoil loss, water source destruction and habitat loss, deforestation on this scale has additional climate change dimensions.
Effects of Deforestation on Marine Life
There is no doubt that forest biomass plays an important role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and regulating both local weather patterns and global climate. In effect, deforestation eventually leads to the depredation of the fish breeding grounds and nurseries thus rendering the military enforcement action against illicit fishing methods null and void. Owing to large-scale deforestation resulting from the weak enforcement by NFA, Kalangala, being an island district, risks to suffer
rampant disasters of storms, destruction of crops and people’s houses since wind- breakers are continuously eroded.
The phenomenon of tempestuous winds blowing over a huge expanse of non forested land is corroborated by no less than the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA). The body noted that whereas the months of June and July are unusually unsafe, the turbulence on the lake gets stronger each passing year. Hence, it was observed that the stormy winds are becoming a threat to the small aircraft flying over the waters of the lake and the small boats sailing on it.
Empirically, the hundreds of people that to date perish in water vessel 6 accidents on the lake are victims of imperiled navigation causally linked to massive destruction of the lake forest ecology. The occurrence of intense, tempestuous winds blowing over a huge expanse of non forested land is a constant danger the life of the fisher folk and passengers traveling to distant islands.
I wish to suggest that having brought sanity in the fisheries sector, the UPDF aggressive enforcement patrols should take on the marauding gangs of illegal loggers and dealers that are destroying with impunity the forest resources in Kalangala district. Fisheries protection per se, much less by armed enforcement action, is a piece-meal mechanism, a far cry from the ecosystem-based approach to
fisheries management.
There is need, therefore, to put in place a much more holistic approach -accompanied by a political will- to ensure the recovery of the fisheries resources in Uganda’s water bodies. Not least, it is imperative to take a deliberate action to maintain an intricate balance between people, environment and development.
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