The Council of Ministers responsible for Water Affairs of the Nile River Basin have approved the proposed USD 221 million 10 year trans boundary Wetlands Investment and Management Plan developed by NELSAP-CU with support from the German Agency GIZ. The approval was given during the 23rd NELCOM held virtually on 12th November 2020. The Investment plan covers three shared wetlands of Semliki Delta (DRC-Uganda) Sango-Bay Minziro (Uganda-Tanzania) and Sio-Siteko (Kenya-Uganda) and focuses on environmental protection, livelihood and food security improvement through fisheries development, irrigated agriculture, market value chain development for key agricultural and fisheries products from the basins and trans boundary cooperation.
The Management plans developed in line with the Ramsar Guidelines, have been validated and approved at country level and will form the basis for resources mobilization. The plans will be implemented alongside the Nile Equatorial Lakes Investment Project (NELIP) a basin-wide investment project led by NELSAP-CU and whose fundraising is presently ongoing.
Background to the Project
Considering the vital role wetlands play in water quality and stabilizing Nile River flow, NELSAP-CU decided to proactively establish a strategy to prevent further encroachment and reverse the degradation of wetlands in the NEL region through a Wetland Management Strategy that had earlier been approved by the Nile Council of Ministers in 2013. To implement this strategy, NELSAP-CU, with support from GIZ, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) under the International Climate Initiative, commissioned a diagnostic analysis of the three wetlands to identify drivers, threats and impacts on the wetlands, and develop concrete trans boundary management and Investment Project Plans (IPPs) that will incentivize stakeholders to conserve the wetlands while simultaneously promoting sustainable livelihoods.
Countries collectively under NELCOM and individually have so far supported related initiatives by NELSAP-CU. In 2017, Tanzania and Uganda signed an MOU on cooperation in development and management of the shared water and natural resources. Kenya and Uganda both signed in 2015, an MOU for the joint management of the Sio-Malaba-Malakisi River Basin, an agreement that was facilitated by NELSAP-CU. D.R Congo and Uganda on their part signed a bilateral agreement on October 20, 2018 on Fisheries Management and Development, which was facilitated by the LEAF II Project of NELSAP-CU.
During development of the plans, stakeholders made valuable contributions through field campaigns and consultative stakeholder workshops, national, provincial, district and local level consultations at wards and villages. Those consulted include wetland dependent communities, experts, national and district government officials and non- state actors in the four countries together with the Nile Equatorial Lakes Technical Advisory Committees (NELTAC) from the four countries