By Kureeba David and Joan Nanteza
In the village of Kabweyakiza, the land was once a fertile but eventually became barren expanse, stripped of its vitality due to poor soil conservation. Crops withered and livestock struggled to find sustenance, the communities faced a dire future until they joined hands to reclaim their land. With the support of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), they embarked on a mission to restore the degraded landscape. The incentives that triggered the conservation included access to clean water and equipment to aid their conservation efforts.
The communities adjacent to the Nabakazi wetland where the spring water was constructed for them by NAPE with financial support from PKN, dug contours and at the time the outreach team visited the communities, the exercise of contour digging was ongoing. “This is anticipated to nurture their soils back to health and improve soil quality over time,” Kamegyere said during the visit. As the land is revived, so will their livelihoods because bumper harvests are expected to return. The communities said NAPE provided them with hoes, pangas, wheelbarrows, and spades which made their work easy with less expense incurred to procure equipment.
The distribution of conservation aid tools to different communities in Madudu and Kitenga sub counties-Mubende District.
To communities, they said the most precious gift was the construction of a communal water spring. For long they were drinking unsafe and unclean water from the well. They further said Women no longer walk miles for dirty water and children play safely near the clean source. To them it was a new dawn as said by Jeanpierre, a farmer from Kagunguri. “Our land will be fertile again and we already have water!” the communities celebrated.
Children fetching clean water at the constructed community well at Kabweyakiza village by NAPE as the NAPE Green Radio Journalist interacts with women on how the well is helping them.
As the seasons pass, the villages will flourish. The water spring has become a symbol of resilience, and the soil conservation a testament to what community and conservation will achieve. The people of Kabweyakiza are on the path of reclaiming their future, mitigating climate change and in doing so, will create conserved soil, increase biodiversity, lessen erosion, buffer protection for a greener, brighter tomorrow. Soil conservation, compositing, wetland and forest buffer conservation are one of the strategies to addressing climate change exacerbation.
