Environmental problems in Uganda

Looking for a balance

Whether meeting sustenance needs means clearing rainforests or drawing fish from Lake Victoria, the objective for many Ugandans is the same: survival. But could these practices make things even more difficult for Ugandans in future generations?

Habitat loss

A majority of Ugandans are completely reliant on natural resources to survive. Forests provide fuel-wood and cleared land frees arable soil for agriculture. As a result, many of Uganda’s forests are being degraded or completely cleared.

As forests give way to agricultural land, the soil is exposed to erosion and loses its fertility. Where cattle is introduced, grazing also affects soil quality, opens the way for invasive species and reduces the diversity of plant species. Other related problems include falling quality and availability of water.

Habitat loss also means that endangered species such as the mountain gorilla find themselves increasingly at risk from poachers. This species is now on the brink of extinction in the wild because it subsists in islands of vegetation surrounded by large human populations with growing land needs.

Invasive species

How could one fish put the world’s second largest lake at risk? The Nile perch population, introduced more than 30 years ago in Lake Victoria, has expanded significantly and contributed to the local extinction of many local fish species of economic importance.

Another invasive, the water hyacinth, has also been choking waterways and landings. Fortunately, there has been some success in bringing the hyacinth’s expansion under control.

Pollution

Lake Victoria has suffered a serious decline in water quality because of soil runoff from the land (partly the result of deforestation). Other impacts from a booming population around the shores of the lake are an increase in phosphorus concentrations and algal biomass.