Building Resilient Communities, Wetland Ecosystems and Associated Catchments in Uganda

Introduction

The “Building Resilient Communities, Wetland Ecosystems and Associated Catchments in Uganda”project*will support the Government of Uganda in the management of critical wetlands that are being affected by a changing climate. The project will restore wetlands and their eco-system services, based on the wise-use principles and guidelines outlined by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. It also supports sustainable land management practices and reforestation, resilient agricultural practices and alternative livelihoods for communities living in these areas. This support will reduce the pressures on the wetlands. Finally the project seeks to strengthen the climate information and early warning systems to support these communities to make climate-resilient decisions.

The impact of climate change, coupled with other human and environmental stressors, is increasing degradation of wetlands and their associated ecosystem services in Uganda. This is negatively affecting the livelihoods of the people living in and around the wetlands – around 4,000,000 people. In fact, over 80% of the people living adjacent to wetland areas in Uganda directly use wetland resources for their household food security needs. Given that wetlands are highly vulnerable to changes in the quantity and quality of their water supply, climate change will most likely substantially alter ecologically important attributes of wetlands and will exacerbate the impacts from human activity. On the other hand, the loss of wetlands could exacerbate the impact of climate change in as they provide fundamental services that contribute to mitigation of such impacts.

The project has a fund of $44.26 million (US$24.9 million from Green Climate Fund, US$20.1 million from Government of Uganda and UNDP) and will run from 2017 to 2025. The key partners are the Green Climate Fund, Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project is being implemented by the Government of Uganda and UNDP.

*For more information, please go to the project’s webpage.

Aims

1. Restoration and management of wetland hydrology and associated forests.
2. Improved agricultural practices and alternative livelihood options in the wetland catchment.
3. Strengthening access to climate and early warning information to farmers and other target communities to support wetland management.

Selected recent updates*

Project outputs

Read about the importance of wetlands as a natural buffer in mitigating, forestalling, and adapting to climate change in “WETLANDS GIVE LIFE: Preserving Uganda’s wetlands secures a brighter future for country and planet” – published Febuary 2nd, 2019.

For more information please go to the ‘News and Updates’ area of the project’s webpage.

Project inception meeting

The project inception meeting held on 29 November 2017 marked the start of project implementation and came after both entities signed a financing agreement in August 2017 for the project, which is intended to restore degraded wetlands, improve ecosystems, and strengthen climate information and early warning systems. Read more about the launch of this project by the Government of Uganda and UNDP.

“Fighting climate change and its effects is now a key goal for the Government of Uganda. We are delighted that this project is going to enable us to respond to the President’s call to protect wetlands and boost our ongoing efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation,” Hon. Mary Goretti Kitutu, the State Minister Environment