Conservationists up in arms over lack of green places

Conservationists are up in arms over Kampala’s Capital City Authority’s
continued indiscriminate cutting of trees for ongoing infrastructure
development, which is being done without considering green habitation
places for birds.

The conservation operations manager for Vian Conservation Uganda Society, Mr Eric Ssenkindu, said birds’ habitat is usually trees in city settings. Therefore, the indiscriminate cutting down of trees has remained a threat to birds’ lives. “Birds cannot stay where they do not have a habitat.

Now, the habitat of birds is usually trees in the city setting, So when we are cutting down trees, deforestation, and clearing the green cover for the development of infrastructure, buildings, and things like that, it means we are threatening the presence of birds, because once you clear the habitat of birds, then birds cannot remain there. So the biggest threat to the birds is habitat destruction,” Mr Ssenkindu said.

He made the remarks during the Nature Walk, an event that was organised in Kampala on Sunday to champion green spaces. Mr Ssenkindu warned that the current trend is bound to affect the potential of the tourism sector because the government will fail to generate the revenue paid by tourists visiting the city to watch birds.

“I think KCCA, as much as they are doing some developmental work should leave some green spaces within the city town and further consider birds as they do their work,” he said. At the end of last year, hundreds of birds were left without homes after the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) cut down trees where they had been nesting. The operation occurred on several major streets in Kampala, including Entebbe Road, Jinja Road, and Kampala Road, leaving many birds, especially egrets, stranded and without homes.

The environment and climate change chairperson of Ismail Council for Uganda, Ms Mariam Jiwani, one of the organisers of the Nature Walk, in Kampala, said for the last 50 years, the world has lost more than 70 percent of its animals, including birds due to environmental destruction. “If we lose certain species, the ecosystem will become dysfunctional, it will not be able to provide services. We know that bees and other pollinators are responsible for pollinating trees, which, you know, aid in their reproduction.

So, if we’re losing a species such as bees, for example, we know that pollinators are under threat as well,” Ms Jiwani said. She asked countries to respect the environmental laws so that the universe mitigates the effects of climate change. The General Manager of Sheraton Hotel, Mr Jean Philippe Bittencourt, who is housing a large garden of Kampala’s green belt said for the last 20 years, the city had a lot of birds, but recently, birds have been disappearing due to the increasing number of cars, which have come up with a lot of pollution.

“It is quite a challenge because we cannot stop the traffic and yet the birds have to survive. They just have to adapt to that noise,” Mr Bittencourt said. He is optimistic that the ongoing campaign to introduce electric cars will help to reduce the noise, and scientifically, more cars should be developed with silencers.