Environment

CARING FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT An environment means “human beings and all the things that surrounds us” Environment is therefore made up of many things these include:- Human beings, land, soil, water, wetlands, fish animals, insects and other small creatures, plants, built up environment like houses, roads, bridges etc, socio economic factors like political situations, income, housing, employment and education are all part of our environment and well being. For us survive and lead and comfortable life in our environment, there are certain basic needs that we require. These include:- food, shelter, clothing, water, health, security and spiritual wellbeing. Nature has been so good tons in that it provides sunshine and rain which helps the plants to grow so that we and our animals get enough food. The water also fills rivers and lakes which provides a good home for fish and other animals. Animals. As the plants grow and die, the leaves and dead plants go back into the soil and make it more fertile so that we can grow more crops. The insects make holes in the soil so that water and air can go into the soil and make it better for plants to grow. If we learn to live peacefully and take good care of our environment, nature will continue to provide for our basic needs and those of future generation unfortunately however, we are sometimes careless greedy and reckless in the way we use nature and the environment. It is therefore necessary to learn how to use the environment and the available nature resources wisely. As we use the environment to provide our basic needs as described above at times our actions can harm the environment because in • Our population has grown rapidly and the rate at which we use environmental resources is beyond the rate at which these resources reproduce or multiply. • There is lack of awareness about the dangers of degrading our environment and what impact this can have on our lives. • the knowledge and tools we use today may not allow us to use the environment in a manner that allows it to be continuously productive. In other words the environment may be sustainably used for example when we use a tractor unwisely or a power chain saw to clear all the trees. • Some of our cultures do not allow us to interact with the environment in a sustainable manner. Such cultures include overstocking of livestock, which leads to overgrazing of too many animals on the same piece of land all the time which leads to the loss of vegetation cover. As a result of the above factor, the environment gets harmed. When the environment is harmed, it is said to be degraded of that environmental degradation has occurred. Environmental degradation is shown through environmental problems, which limit our ability to meet our needs. this in turn leads to poor standards of living. in Uganda, we are currently faced with a number of environmental problems. the main ones are:- • Soil degradation. this is shown through soil erosion which is the washing away of goods top soil by water or blown a way by wind. • soil degradation can also occur when soil minerals or nutrients have been lost through drawing into deeper soil layers. • land fragmentation is yet another way in which soil degradation occurs in many parts of Uganda for example in kabale, Mbale, Rukungiri. A number of various human activities have in one way or the other cause or led to soil erosion and among others are the following:- cultivation of land which can be damaged easily some types of land, such as that on step slopes are unsuitable for agriculture. When people try to cultivate it they make it worse because the soil is unable to endure the strain and simply erodes a way best example is in the Bududa area. Overgrazing of animals:- a significant proportion of land in Uganda is used as pastoral land. When too many animals graze on a piece of land, they remove the vegetation which covers the soil and hence erosion. deforestation in search of wood for fuel and need of land for cultivation. This leaves land bare and exposed. building of houses and roads. A lot of erosion occurs in town are when land is cleared to build a new houses and roads. Roads expose the base soils to rain water which carries the soil away. Soil erosion has got a lot of effects on the environment as explained below:- It leads to food shortage by reducing soil fertility. This in turn reduces food productivity slowly; this leads to food shortages for the people of Uganda. It reduces on the water quality that is when soil is washed away. it creates problems else where. Soils that are washed from up the hill enter rivers, kill water animals and cover the places they stay in. The soil may carry pesticides and herbicides that poison. The water or fertilizers which aid the growth of bad water weeds such as the water hyacinth. Soil erosions may sometimes results into serious landslides and flooding which destroy human settlement and cause serious loss of life like which happed in Bududa. pollution is yet another way through which our environment is tempered with. Water pollution is caused when untreated industrial waste and release of sewage into water to dies. Water pollution leads to the loss of quality of water which is used for domestic purpose is such