Nansana Municipality Unveils Ambitious Plan to Combat Floods and Wetland Loss

Nansana Municipality is embarking on a comprehensive five-year plan to tackle escalating environmental challenges, including severe flooding, extensive wetland degradation, and widespread pollution. The strategy, spanning from 2025 to 2030, targets key areas such as solid waste management, climate change adaptation, environmental conservation, and disaster risk reduction.

According to Ms. Stella Nalumansi, the municipality’s senior environment officer, the plan aims to create a coordinated framework for environmental interventions and bolster compliance with existing regulations. “We are looking at strengthening enforcement laws, improving sanitation and waste management, and protecting wetlands and other natural resources,” she stated.

Flooding has been identified as one of the municipality’s most pressing issues, exacerbated by climate change, deforestation, wetland encroachment, and waste disposal in drainage systems. Numerous areas across all four divisions—Nabweru, Gombe, Busukuma, and Nansana—are prone to flooding. To combat this, the municipality intends to introduce a new solid waste management by-law that will impose stricter penalties and fines for improper waste disposal.

Air pollution is another major concern, with officials estimating that approximately 95 percent of the municipality experiences unhealthy air quality. The plan includes promoting energy efficiency and rolling out clean cookstove programs to reduce indoor pollution and deforestation. For effective waste management, the municipality is seeking approximately Shs10 billion to enhance community awareness, monitoring, infrastructure, and collection systems.

The loss of wetlands is also a critical focus. Satellite data reveals that an alarming 80 percent of Nansana’s wetland ecosystems have been lost to development. Mayor John Bosco Sserunkuuma emphasized the municipality’s commitment to finalizing regulatory frameworks to strengthen environmental enforcement, including mandatory waste segregation and producer responsibility.

The municipality is also reviewing its garbage collection system, planning to introduce more service providers and standardized dual-compartment bins. Future upgrades to the Menvu waste site may include AI-assisted sorting technology and integration of informal waste workers, alongside plans for large-scale composting and mechanical-biological treatment plants.

Officials acknowledge the need for adequate resource allocation from division councils for environmental programs, urging an end to budget lines for environmental activities without corresponding funding.

This initiative is detailed in a report from the Daily Monitor.