On 08^th October 2024, JESE Participated in the Validation meeting on the development of wetlands inventory and river banks’ sustainable restoration and management plan for Fort Portal City organized by Join for Water.

 Following the wetland inventory exercise conducted by AID Environmental, stakeholders were invited for a validation meeting.  Findings were shared and participants were tasked to input and select 6 wetlands within Fort Portal Tourism City for restoration.  The meeting was attended by stakeholders including; AID Environment, Joint Effort to Save the Environment-JESE, NRDI, KFF-Kyaniga Forest Foundation, Tooro Kingdom, Police, IDP, Religious leaders, Fort Portal Tourism City leadership and Administration among others.

 A total of 06 wetlands were selected for restoration including; Mugunu-Mpanga, Kamutebi, Kyabagayana, Karamaga, Nyabukara-Kamengo and Nyakimya respectively.

This is a noble cause in water. Fort Portal City is ready to work with you (JFW and partners). Fort Portal is an urban district. The Policy is on urbanization. As we move forward, let’s think about urbanization so that the rest of the country can be left to develop agriculture which is the backbone of our country.

” We need to be mindful of the required services for our people. We all know that water is life. I want to add that “Good water is life.” We need to think about the type of water we talk about. We pledge to work with you. I want to be educated, to be told what we need to do to provide good and clean water. We promise to pull up our socks and tighten our belts so that we fit in the same shoes as you to provide clean water for our people. I wish the partnership that has already been created with Fort Portal City was cemented further. People move to the city every year, and the more people move, the more degraded and polluted the city becomes.” Said, Hon. Ashaba

I call upon JFW to concretize the partnership created with the City so that we can move forward. Our water resources must be guarded. We would like to get information about our wetlands and what must be done to protect them. All the laws, policies, and authorities are in place to safeguard our wetlands. There should be no more excuses. Let’s do what is expected of us.

We have existing laws to protect the environment, unfortunately, we have people who decided to sleep on the job. All the degradation activities have happened in the presence of our leaders. It’s not very late. We can still work. We must start somewhere. We now have a system that we will use and not rely on the environmental police alone. With or without the environmental police, we will enforce and move on to restore our wetlands. We must stop further degradation and encroachment.

Thanked the participants for being part of the significant engagement. Thanked JFW and partners saying “These are the NGOs we need for the value they add. He however said the engagement should not stop with the meeting and requested more engagement meetings be arranged in the future.

Ms. Nyakahuma Elizabeth of Bwera 1 Village in Kicheche Sub-County, Kitagwenda District is a beneficiary

of the JESE-Integrated Farm Planning Project, HereWeGrow and SCHMITZ fund, the project supports the improvement of income and resilience of smallholder Robusta coffee farmer households in Kitagwenda and Kamwenge Districts. After training in Agroecology, integrated soil fertility, and water Management practices in April and May 2024 respectively, Elizabeth embarked on mulching her intercropped coffee and banana field to tap into the technology benefits.

The objective of mulching is the prevention of land degradation specifically nutrient improvement,

erosion control, soil moisture, and soil health improvement. The materials are spread to 15cm thickness, manually across the slope, at the beginning of short rains. The purpose is to retain moisture content in soil by promoting water infiltration during and after the rains, promoting water holding capacity through decay and organic matter formation. Grass mulch also controls soil erosion by intercepting raindrops (splash erosion) that detach soil particles and improve soil nutrients through grass decomposition.

In addition to mulching, Elizabeth has adopted other agroecology practices including making and application of bio rations, recycling of livestock manure, intercropping, agroforestry, and establishment of water retention trenches. Through the adopted practices, the farmer will benefit from; reduced weed growth hence reduced labor input, limited water loss from the soil surface, maintaining soil moisture, prevention of layering over the soil surface, and water movement will be more active into soil covered with mulch rather than running off, prevent soil from splashing onto leaves; this limits the probability of plants getting bacterial and fungal diseases. All these will translate into higher yields at a lower cost and consequently improved farm resilience, productivity, and profitability.