Browsing by Author "Nuwagira, Upton"

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    Assessment of the Efficiency of Problematic Animal Interventions in Mitigating Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Uganda: A Case Study of Lake Mburo National Park
    (East African Nature and Science Organization, 2024-09-07) Kembabazi, Immaculate; Ssenfuma, Robert; Twinamatsiko, Medard; Muchunguzi, Charles; Tinkasimire, Rogers; Nuwagira, Upton
    Human-wildlife conflict is a significant challenge in Uganda, particularly in areas where human populations and wildlife habitats overlap. This study examines the efficiency of various interventions aimed at mitigating human wildlife conflicts in and around Lake Mburo National Park, a region renowned for its rich biodiversity and diverse ecosystems. Lake Mburo National Park is surrounded by agricultural and pastoralist communities that frequently experience crop raiding, livestock predation, and threats to human safety from wildlife. Various interventions, including physical barriers, deterrents, translocation of problematic animals, and community engagement initiatives, have been implemented to address these conflicts. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, including field observations, community surveys, and analysis of intervention outcomes. A total of 125 households were interviewed across several parishes of Rurambira, Rwamuhuku, Rwabarata, Kizimbi, Kashojwa and Rwetango in Kiruhura and Isingiro districts. The findings indicate that the majority of respondents have lived in the area for over 20 years, providing them with extensive knowledge of local wildlife interactions. The results highlight that hippos (76%) are the most problematic animals, primarily causing crop damage, which significantly impacts local livelihoods. The study reveals that guarding property (98%), though stressful and time-consuming, is the most effective and commonly used intervention. Other measures, such as strong shelters, trapping, translocation, and various deterrents, show varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the species involved. The study concludes that understanding the species-specific and context-specific effectiveness of these interventions is crucial for developing sustainable strategies to mitigate HWC. The insights gained from this research can inform future conflict mitigation strategies and contribute to the broader discourse on human-wildlife coexistence in Uganda and similar settings worldwide
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    Impact of Artisanal Gold Mining on Wetland Health in Buhweju District, Southwestern Uganda
    (East African Nature and Science Organization, 2023-09-11) Nuwagira, Upton; Mubiru, David; Igga, Yasin; Nasasira, Perfect
    Wetland degradation due to anthropogenic activities including artisanal gold mining is widely common in Uganda, and this affects vegetation health status if not controlled. However, the use of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to determine the health status of wetlands is rare. In this study, remote sensing techniques with the use of spatial-temporal Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used for the wetlands in Bitsya Subcounty, Buhweju district (noted for artisanal gold mining with the use of mercury) to determine the wetland health status for the period between 2012-2021. This was for the purposes of identifying target areas for intervention and developing appropriate, location-specific intervention options. 7 images of 30 * 30 m and 3 images of 10 * 10 m respectively, ortho-rectified, cloud-free Landsat and Sentinel images obtained from the USGS archive were analysed. The results showed that the high NDVI value (0.775) was detected in the year 2019 and the low NDVI value (0.068) was detected in the year 2017. The NDVI maps showed low values mostly in the middle of the wetland where artisanal gold mining was mostly taking place, indicating a huge decline in the wetland health status as compared to other wetland edges noticed with high NDVI. The results from the study suggest that the wetland policies in the study area could not be effectively implemented and this reduces the vegetation health status, threatening the functionality of the wetland and as well as loss of the free natural goods and services derived from them. This necessitates the development of wetland restoration campaigns. However, failure to implement the wetland policies may have an ecosystem impact on the wetland micro and macro-organisms, soil nutrients, and water quality as well as a decline in vegetation health
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    Interrogating the Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics in Mbarara City in Southwestern Uganda
    (East African Journal of Environment and Natural Resources, 2023) Nuwagira, Upton; Igga Yasin; Nasasira, Perfect
    While some research has been conducted in sub–Saharan Africa on the alien invasive Parthenium hysterophorus, little work has assessed whether it is poses negative impact on native forages. A field survey was carried out to study the dominant co–existing plant species, and its impact on plant abundance, species, and native forage cover. We found that non–natives were the dominant co–existing plants with P. hysterophorus compared to natives. Plant species (r = -0.889, P = 0.043) and abundance (r = -0.968, P = 0.007) decreased with increasing invasive percent cover. Moreover, native forage plant (Brachiaria reptans; r = -0.922, P = 0.026), Cynodon dactylon; r = -0.972, P = 0.006, Digitaria milanjiana; r = -0.938, P = 0.018, and Indigofera spicata; r = -0.977, P = 0.004) percent cover decreased with increasing invasive percent cover. The study concludes that P. hysterophorus negatively affects plant diversity, and thus, should controlled.
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    Review of Deforestation in Ugandan Tropical Rainforest Reserves: A Threat to Natural Medicine
    (East African Journal of Environment and Natural Resources, 2022) Nuwagira, Upton; Igga, Yasin; Ikiriza, Hilda
    Deforestation in Ugandan Tropical Rainforest Reserves as threat to natural medicine is still undocumented. In this study, we reviewed literature on deforestation most especially from 1990-2020 in the Tropical Rainforest Reserves. We examine the trend of deforestation, impact of deforestation on medicinal plant species’ and threatened medicinal plant species in the Tropical Rainforest Reserves in Uganda. Secondary data from National Forestry Authority on deforestation (1990-2020) was analysed to determine the trend of forest deforestation while PubMed®, Google Scholar, and SCOPUS databases were also used to provide information on the threatened medicinal plants. Our results show that there has been an annual incredible decline of 17% in the trend of deforestation both in Tropical Rainforest Reserves (low-stocked and well-stocked). The results of the review also noticed a 0.86 strong positive correlation in the decline of both Tropical Rainforest Reserves. This review also documented 13 medicinal plants as the most threatened in the Ugandan Tropical Rainforest Reserves. The medicinal plants in Uganda include Dioscorea bulbifera, Cytropsis articulata, Prunus africana, Warburgia ugandensis, Entandrophragma utile, Irvingia gabonensis, Spathodea campanulate, Aloe ferox, Vernonia amygdalina, Erythrina abyssinica, Moringa oleifera, Hoslundia opposita Vahl and Milicia excelsa. Our study articulates human activities that are affecting medicinal plants include agricultural expansion, timber harvesting, charcoal burning, firewood harvesting, weak forest policies and laws, un clear forest boundaries infrastructure development e.g., roads.
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    Review of the Past, Current, and the Future Trend of the Climate Change and its Impact in Uganda
    (East African Journal of Environment and Natural Resources, 2022) Nuwagira, Upton; Igga, Yasin
    Climate change is a big problem in Sub-Saharan Africa because it brings about prolonged droughts and heavy rainfall that destroys crops. Further, heavy rainfall amounts throughout the entire region have caused flooding and landslides, thus leaving many houses destroyed and people and animals dead. However, the past, current, and future trends of climate change and its impact in Uganda remain unachieved. In this paper, we: 1) analyse the past, current, and future climate change in Uganda; 2) determine the relationship between climate variables; and 3) review the impact of climate change in Uganda. Our study employed the use of secondary data from authentic sources such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, journal articles, and books. We used Inverse Distance Weighing interpolation to show the trend of climate change in Uganda. We employed the PCA to show the variation between climate variables in different regions in Uganda. Our data shows that the mean ± SD of temperature (25.24±3.85), rainfall (1252.5±476.9), relative humidity (63.45±7.11), and solar (19.831±1.46) from 1982 to 2019. One Way ANOVA showed a significant difference between temperature (p = 0.003), relative humidity (p = 0.00), and solar radiation (p = 0.00), while rainfall did not vary between regions (p = 0.239). Our study evidences that the current climate change impacts in Uganda include prolonged drought, which causes water stress and increases crop loss, floods, landslides, invasion of locusts, rises in lake water levels, and floating islands on Lake Victoria.
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    The Role of Remote Sensing in Forest Cover Changes in Butambala District, Central Uganda
    (East African Nature and Science Organization, 2024-03-16) Namayengo, Sarah; Nuwagira, Upton
    Natural forests in Uganda have experienced changes which must be quantified to inform future forest resource management and avoid the danger of reduced ecosystem service benefits. The primary purpose of this study was to assess forest changes in Butambala District by employing remote sensing techniques and GIS tehniques. The original contribution is the capacity to detect Central Forest Reserve cover decline using remote sensing in the study area for a 27-year period (1995-2020). Landsat 5 and Sentinel 2 images were processed using a supervised image classification approach to identify and quantify land use/cover changes. The study results indicated that the district has undergone land cover/use changes over the last 27 years. The prevailing changes in the district from 1995 to 2022 were expansions of built-up areas from (0.54% to 4.22%), agriculture from (42.38% to 79%), and decreases in grassland from (29.9% to 0%), natural forest cover from (14.07% to 5.9%), wetland from (8.24% to 7.9%), tree plantation from (4.87% to 3.3%). The changes threaten the environment and quality of life of people. Therefore, there is need to take critical and practical measures to regulate land use and landcover changes and conserve natural resources in Butambala District