Policy Development for Wetland Management

Abstract

The Wetlands Programme within the Ministry of Water, Energy, Minerals and EnvironmentProtection is described as well as its major activity of developing a national policy onwetlands, by advising the various branches of government and consulting with people wholive in and use wetlands. The programme also provides technical information for theplanning of wetland activities and oversees developments in wetlands. About 10% of Uganda's total land area, 205,000 km2, is occupied by wetlands andhistorically these areas were referred to as wastelands. The belief that wetlands, especiallymarshes, are a major source of diseases like malaria and bilharzia has discouraged theirutilisation. Lind (1956) notes that although they occupy a large area of Uganda, thesewaterlogged areas have hitherto attracted little attention, being considered useless except toprovide a few fish and buildin_ materials in a country where good agricultural land wasplentiful. This notion has apparently changed and over the last 20 years the wetland resourcehas been put under considerable pressure from agriculture resulting in the draining of many wetlands and modification of several others.