The Effectiveness Of The Law Towards Protecting Wetlands In Uanda

ABSTRACT

The study was set to assess the effectiveness of the law towards protecting wetlands in Uganda. It was guided by three research objectives which included analyzing the legal and institutional tl·amework towards wetlands, establishing the effects and challenges in enforcement of law on conservation of wetland and making any recommendation that may be of help to future policy making. In order to produce a comprehensive research. substantive law. its interpretation by case laws. designed questionnaires and inter personal interviews were deployed to suit the situation. This was done through the collection of data on conservation of wetlands social and economic dependency on it and analyzes the pmpose for which this law was made; the degree to which it has helped in the conservation of the wetland and to what extent the wetland is protected. The study findings were that wet land conservation practice is poor. landowners view the restriction on the wetland as a way of depriving them of the use of their land without any alternative source of income to sustain their families, population increase is a risk to wetlands. Several provisions of the law are flouted when converting wetland into a commercial village for example Katanga besides absence of environment impact assessment. Administrative interference was cited as key interference to wetlands management, poor sensitization on wetlands including amongst the local council leaders. The researcher concludes that conservation law on wetland in Uganda is a recent development. which is vet to bear fruitful results as far as sustainable use of it is concerned. Although the institutional and legal framework is in place. and capacity building in progress. There is still need to identify the crucial pa•t of the monitoring und enforcement agencies that would build consciousness the viability of conserved wetland in a wider environmental perspective. It could depict the economic, social and legal requirements. The cmrent approach seems. to tilt more on the legal concept leaving aside the economic and social aspects. This makes the population believe that they are being robbed using the law. Important aspect of sensitization is towards what wetland conservation legislation intends during the research. It was evident that most people still do know the impmtance of wetland conservation. The researcher recommend for full adoption and implementation of the Ramsar international convention. increase legal enforcement on those who attack wetlands. increases sensitization on the need for wet land conservation in order to enhance an effective legal framework on the wetlands management.