Things are getting heated in Uganda as environmental activists are going head-to-head with the government officials and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) over Uganda wetland protection.
A group of activists from the Weka Afri Sustainable Biodiversity and Food Security Foundation held a protest in Kampala recently, and things got a little out of hand. They’re really upset about how NEMA is managing (or not managing!) wetland conservation, especially with all these Chinese companies setting up shop in Uganda’s wetlands.
These companies are growing rice and running factories in the wetlands, which the activists say is really messing things up. They think NEMA is letting these foreign companies do whatever they want, while local communities are getting kicked out of these protected areas.
In the turn of events, around Five of the wetland protection protestors were even arrested, this has put the fight for the wetlands and the environment at stake since now whoever comes out to speak against the act ends up in jail.
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In their cry, the activists are calling on the government to cancel the licenses given to these Chinese companies and take action to protect Uganda’s natural resources before it’s too late. This is now different from what NEMA is showing the world after it evicted people from the Lubigi wetland in bid to save it from encroachers.