Kampala, Uganda
August 3, 2022 — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni appealed to the region to preserve rainfall catchment areas such as the wetlands and forests to avoid adverse climate consequences.
President Museveni made this call at the end of the Regional Inter-Ministerial Conference on migration, Environment and Climate Change, concluded on Friday in Ugandan capital, Kampala.
He said the wetlands and forests in the Great Lakes region contribute a significant amount of rainfall, and therefore they must be preserved.
“Here in Uganda, 40% of our rains, are from our wetlands here and the ones in South Sudan, and the forest in Congo. By interfering with the forests, interfering with the wetlands, we ourselves are destroying 40% of the rainfall here,” President Museveni said at the conference.
He stressed that he is at war with those cultivating in the wetlands of his country.
“You cannot be cleverer than God. God is one who said this is wetland, this is lake. Can you imagine people go and cultivate in Lake Victoria as if they are mad,” he slammed.
“The areas of the West Nile and Karamoja gets 60 inches of rain because of the swamps in South Sudan and Congo. So, if this science is known, how can we kill ourselves or commit suicide by attacking the wetlands,” Museveni added.
The Inter-ministerial conference was facilitated by the International Organization for Immigration.
The conference brought onboard delegates from 14 countries in the Horn and East of Africa to strategize their collective efforts to address climate challenges in the region.
