Uganda Atlas of Our Changing Environment - GRID-Arendal

Lake Mutanda: Heavily converted Gitundwe wetland in Nyundo and Nyakabande sub countries (2008)
heavily Lake converted Mutanda Gitundwe wetland in Nyundo and Nya
Source DSOER Kisoro 2008
This emphasizes the local, regional and international
importance of lakes Bunyonyi and Mutanda and, their
catchments and the various wetland systems fringing these
water systems, as one whole ecosystem whose degradation
will have serious on-site and off-site implications.
Environmental Change and effects
Population pressure on land and poor land management
practices have led to clearance of every bit of vegetation
cover in the lake catchments leading to grave accelerated
erosion. In the past, efforts were made by Government to
institute and enforce soil and water conservation measures,
and by 1950s this region was graded to attained soil and
water conservation standards, particularly bunding and
terracing on farmlands, easily unsurpassed anywhere
else in Africa. However, the ever mounting challenges of
rapid population growth coupled with later relaxation
in enforcement of conservation measures has left the
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lake catchments and the rest of the highland region in a
desperate state, with conservation structures on farmlands
and hillslopes in general disintegration from hyperaccelerated
erosion (Bagoora, 1993).
In the areas surrounding Lake Bunyonyi and Mutanda, the
population is estimated to be beyond 350 persons/km2 making it one of the world’s most densely populated rural
areas; with projections of continued high growth rates of
more than 3% per annum, which does not in any way point
to a rosy future.
Landuse is dominated by peasant farming based on annual
crops dominated by sorghum, potatoes and legumes, which
leads to disturbance of the soil continuously and provide
poor cover and protection to soil from erosion. Although soil
loss from these slopes has not yet been properly quantified,
it could be within the magnitude of 155 tons/ha/year on
District State of Environment Report Kisoro (2008)