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Environmental Protection through Expanding Lemon grass growing and Education in Uganda

BACKGROUND

From 2011, Uganda in general and Mubende district in particular have had persistent drought. This is due to man’s activities in search of arable land which has led to severe deforestation, with associated burning as well as the most recent worst trend of wetland encroachment through unrestricted wetland reclamation. This is further attributed to high levels of unemployment especially among youth and women who form the majority of Ugandan population. They lack alternative means of survival/livelihood as they are tied to tilling of land moreover with rudimentary technology that does not spare land to the detriment of environmental protection. This happens amidst limited information and knowledge of the likely effects of unrestricted deforestation and as well as wetland reclamation on climate change. The urgent and direct problems that must be addressed therefore include; worsening environmental deterioration including deforestation and wetland reclamation are a result of man’s quest for arable land. This will address the indirect problem of high levels of unemployment.
~Environmental Education and Conservation Projects~

Global Bridge Network (GBN) supported the following activities in cooperation with SORAK to practice environmental protection.

(1) Capacity building for enhanced environmental protection for women&youth(through training on lemon grass growing/cultivation), and for school children(through conservation awareness campaigns and environmental education at schools)

(2) Lobbying the local government (representatives of sub-counties) for policy and decision making on environmental conservation through dialogue meetings, and on-site monitoring (in areas where environmental destruction is progressing).

(3) Expansion of lemongrass cultivation with neighboring farmers, as well as the production and sale of lemongrass essential oil.

Expanding lemongrass on drought-strained land prevents soil erosion and leads to environmental conservation. Through this project, environmental education for school children, training on lemongrass cultivation for local women and youth, and outreach to local government and environmental policy has promoted environmental conservation by expanding lemongrass cultivation in the target areas. In addition, the production and sale of lemongrass essential oil and tea from tons of lemongrass gathered by the surrounding farmers will help income generation among them.

"Protection through Expanding Lemon Grass Growing
and Education in Uganda"(2017~2019)

From 2017-2019, with a grant from Japan Fund for Global Environment, we worked with SORAK Development Agency*SORAK Development Agency*, a local NGO in Mubende District, Uganda, in carrying out the project of promoting environmental conservation through lemongrass cultivation and environmental education in barren lands in Mubende and Chegegwa districts in Uganda.


◆URL:SORAK Facebook

1-1 Environmental conservation and lemongrass cultivation training for women and youth. Lemongrass cultivation was accepted as a way to increase income, protect the soil and environment, and a total of 112,000 eucalyptus trees were planted in the third year.

1-2 Environmental education and awareness campaigns were conducted for children in 16 target schools, and environmental conservation clubs were formed to encourage tree planting, monitoring and reporting of environmental destruction. Students in the environmental conservation clubs planted trees, cultivated vegetables, and made handicrafts by disposing of garbage and reusing waste materials.

2-1 Conducted meetings and policy making meetings for local government in Mubende province and sub-county areas to monitor environmental abuse and enforce regulations and laws. A Charcoal Ordinance was developed in Mubende Province to regulate tree felling.

3-1 Land that was barren in Mubende Province became usable through carrying out the lemon grass cultivation activity, etc. (12 acres in the second year, 20 acres in the third year, and 224 acres planted)

3-2 Essential oil was produced and sold from the lemongrass that was cultivated and harvested by local farmers, contributing to the improvement of their income.

3-3 Constructed a briquette charcoal production facility to produce briquette charcoal from organic materials such as lemongrass after oil extraction, collected and produced charcoal from 60 tons of organic waste.

3-4 Developed and produced “mosquito repellent gel” using lemongrass essential oil and made it a viable business.


Above videos, the target schools’ children performed a song and poem about environmental conservation to show their appreciation when Mr Ohnishi, representative visited in 2019. Please take a look at the performance of these adorable children!