The East African Community (EAC) in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development Kenya/East Africa (USAID/KEA) have launched a new programme for the conservation and sustainable use of East Africa’s natural capital.

The Conservation and Management of the Region’s Natural Capital Programme is an initiative that seeks to improve the collaborative management and conservation of trans-boundary natural resources, reduce wildlife poaching and trafficking, and increase the perceived value of living wildlife.

The three-year project, which runs from June 2019 to June 2022 and has a budget component of approximately US $2.3 million from USAID/KEA, was launched in Nairobi, Kenya.

The EAC Secretariat will lead the programme implementation process with technical and analytical support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Environment Incentives. This will be done through a new working approach requiring the active involvement of host communities of natural protected biodiversity species areas.

In East Africa, biodiversity-rich areas are critical to the region’s nature-based tourism industry, which contributes 7.5-10 percent of East Africa’s gross domestic product. At the local level, rural communities across the region depend on wildlife and wildlife habitats for their livelihoods. Iconic wildlife, and the landscapes on which it roams, has significant value.

Also in response to rapid economic development and population growth, East Africa’s infrastructure is expanding. This expansion is putting pressure on East Africa’s “natural capital” — resources that are essential for socio-economic growth and development of East African countries and people. The new Conservation and Management of Natural Capital Programme will help strengthen the EAC’s capacity to protect this vital resource.

Speaking at the launch, Christophe Bazivamo, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, said that the programme was crucial as it would, among other things, enhance collaborative management and conservation of transboundary natural resources in the region, increase perceived value of wildlife and reduce wildlife poaching and trafficking.

“This sustained support will go a long way to strengthen national and regional efforts in conservation and management of East Africa’s rich biodiversity and natural resources,” said Bazivamo.

Representing USAID KEA at the event was Ms. Aurelia Micko, the Director of the Environment Office.

Under the EAC Treaty, in particular Chapters 19 and 20, EAC Partner States agree amongst other things, to take concerted measures to foster co-operation in the joint and efficient management and sustainable utilization of natural resources within the community for their mutual benefit. Partner States also recognize that conserving natural capital across boundaries requires strong collaboration and harmonization of national and regional plans and policies to support transboundary management.

In this line, EAC and USAID designed a three years Programme on Improving Collaborative Conservation and Management of Transboundary Natural Resources in EAC.

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Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) scientists are recommending the use of more environmentally sustainable biological controls, as part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy, to fight the fall armyworm (FAW) instead of favouring more harmful pesticides.

In a new paper published in the International Journal of Pest Management, Dr Justice Tambo led a team of researchers who suggest that policy should be geared towards educating farmers about the pest and appropriate control practices that do not over rely on synthetic products.

Tambo, who used survey data from 123 farm households in Ghana and 342 in Zambia that had experienced a FAW attack on their maize plots during the 2016/2017 cropping season, said farmers need to be advised on the rational use of pesticides – where they need to be used as part of IPM – including their impacts on human health and the environment.

However, ultimately, Dr Tambo and the scientists, recommend that other control options using biological agents should be explored to fight the pest which is threatening the food security of more than 200 million people worldwide.

Tambo said, “Our study showed that 51 percent of households sampled in Ghana and 49 percent in Zambia, respectively, used pesticides to control fall armyworm. However, chemical pesticides are costly and their effectiveness and impact on human health and the environment requires further research.

“Furthermore, while 39 percent and 42 percent of households, respectively, received information on FAW from neighbours and extension officers, we recommend that policy efforts should focus on widespread communication campaigns and training programmes with a stronger focus on biological controls.”

Dr Tambo added that more farmers also need to be educated and advised on other IPM techniques to managed FAW including constant weeding to remove alternative host plants; rotation and intercropping of maize with non-host plants; and uprooting and burning of infected plants to destroy larvae and pupae.

“In order to convince farmers that IPM strategies which lean more towards more sustainable biological controls are a viable option, we must demonstrate that the cost is less than the value of the yield saved,” he said.

Last year CABI scientist Dr Melanie Bateman published a paper in the Journal of Applied Entomology, ‘Assessment of potential biopesticide options for managing fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in Africa’ – the first major study of 50 potential biological controls that could be used to fight FAW.

Current CABI research on a variety of safe non-toxic FAW management techniques are ongoing. These include the possibility of the parasitoid Telenomus remus – which was recently confirmed in Africa – could be employed to fight FAW.

Dr Marc Kenis, who is leading the research on Telenomus remus, said, “In Latin America, field releases of Telenomus remus in maize can result in 80-100 percent parasitism, providing full control of fall armyworm.

“The main challenge for a wider utilisation is to provide a product that is financially affordable for African farmers. Mass production on its natural hosts is costly but rearing systems on factitious hosts can be developed.”

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About 57 percent of road users in Uganda are satisfied with the road network in 2019 compared to 27 percent in the last survey two years ago, according to the latest survey carried out by the Uganda Road Fund, the agency mandated to finance routine and periodic maintenance of all public roads.

The improvement in road user experience was attributed mainly to better road maintenance and rehabilitation. Other contributing factors were road widening; quicker journey times and perceived improvement in road safety.

The highest satisfaction scores were observed in Western region followed by Eastern and central regions respectively. Northern region and Kampala had the lowest levels of satisfaction.

National roads had the highest satisfaction levels followed by KCCA roads. Roads under districts, municipalities and town councils had the least satisfaction scores.

The major reasons for dissatisfaction with Uganda’s roads in 2019 were the same from previous years, namely: narrow road widths, potholes, inadequate road maintenance, poor drainage and dust.

The 2019 Road User Satisfaction Survey is the seventh of its kind in Uganda and the third to be undertaken by URF. The survey involves randomly selecting and interviewing road users at predetermined points on all categories of public roads including national roads which are managed by UNRA, city roads managed by KCCA, district roads managed by the various districts and Urban roads managed by Town Councils and municipal authorities.

The sample for the 2019 survey included 2,800 road users constituting pedestrians, cyclists, passengers, motorcar drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, and truck drivers.

Data collection for the survey was undertaken in February and March 2019 with the reference period being the 12 months before the date of data collection. Topics of interest included general satisfaction with the road network, rating of performance of road agencies on various aspects, rating of availability of roadside services and amenities, road users’ perceptions about road safety, driver behavior, and opinions on cross cutting issues in the sector among others.

Availability of road related amenities and services

Road users considered eateries, fuel stations and police posts as satisfactorily available on most roads. They however decried the unavailability of public toilets and roadside parking facilities.

KCCA roads were rated as having the most readily available facilities. District and Urban roads were found to be the most lacking especially for public toilets where about 70 percent of the road users rated their availability as unsatisfactory.

It should be noted that the above services might not always be directly under management of road agencies. However, one of the poorly performing services directly under management of road agencies was incident management (post-accident cleanup) which road users deemed wanting on all the different categories of public roads.

Road Safety

The percentage of road users who felt safe on Uganda’s roads increased to 58% compared to 37% in 2017.

Road users perceived the roads in western region as the safest with over 74% of road users in western region reporting that they felt safe on roads in the region followed by eastern region (60%) and Kampala (56%). Central and Northern regions had the lowest safety scores with less than 50% of respondents feeling safe on the roads in the 2 regions.

Similar to previous years, pedestrians felt the most vulnerable of the road user groups with only 53% feeling safe on Uganda’s roads.

UNRA roads were considered the safest roads in 2019 followed by KCCA roads. Roads users felt that district, urban and community access roads were the least safe road category.

Driver training by a licensed driving instructor was at about 57% among drivers and only 11% among motorcyclists.

Similarly, driving permit ownership was over 90% among drivers and only 18% for motorcyclists.

The reasons advanced for not feeling safe on Uganda’s roads included narrow roads (26%), potholes (20%), dust (15%), reckless driving (11%) and poor signage (6%) respectively.

Public opinion on other roads related issues

Road users still have challenges in identifying the correct government entity (UNRA vs Local Government authority) that is responsible for a particular road or the agencies’ mandates regarding roads.

User perceptions about the Government’s commitment towards reducing road accidents and repairing roads remained positive with about 90% of respondents being of the view that the Central Government is indeed committed towards improving the public road network.

Road users however felt that road agencies do not attend to road repairs in time nor to appropriate quality.

Similarly, many of the respondents (about 40%) felt that the road designs do not meet the needs of special interest groups such as pedestrians, school going children and persons with disabilities.

Priorities for implementation

Road users want government to prioritise road maintenance, paving unpaved roads and widening of roads respectively.

The report of the survey urges The Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) to ensure that the issues identified by road users are incorporated in the sector’s long and medium term plans such as the Road Sector Development Plan and strategic plans of associated agencies. Of concern are issues of road safety, roadside facilities, green/eco-friendly vehicles, and provision of utility corridors among others.

“Concerted efforts should be undertaken to improve road safety by all concerned agencies including the MoWT, UPF, Transport Licensing Board and National Road Safety Council,” it says.

Of particular concern should be: Enforcement of driving standards and regulations among all drivers especially motorcyclists; strengthening road safety awareness programmes targeting behavioural change among road users, particularly on the critical role that human factors play in road accidents and ensuring that road designs cater for needs of special interest road user groups. To this end, MoWT needs to enforce the NMT Policy to ensure that ‘Universal Design’ principles are included in all new and refurbished NMT infrastructures. Similarly, existing non-compliant NMT infrastructure should be retrofitted to ‘Universal Design’ principles.

Among others, the report says road agencies should continue engaging the general public in their activities as a means of increasing public awareness of the roles of road agencies. Similarly, the public should be educated on their responsibility towards preserving the roads asset including road furniture. Finally, road agencies should endeavour to always make available information on ongoing road projects such as source of funding; contractors; scope of works; and start and estimated completion dates as means to manage road users’ expectations.

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An Indonesian man – who worked for an organisation that helped draft strict adultery laws – has been publicly whipped after being caught having an affair with a married woman.

Mukhlis bin Muhammad of the Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) was flogged 28 times.

The woman he had the affair with was caned 23 times.

Mukhlis is from the deeply conservative Aceh region, the only place in Indonesia which practises the strict Islamic law, Sharia.

Gay sex and gambling are also punishable by public caning in Aceh.

“This is God’s law. Anyone must be flogged if proven guilty, even if he is a member of the MPU,” Husaini Wahab, the deputy mayor of Aceh Besar district, where Mukhlis lives, told BBC News Indonesia.

The couple were caught by officials in September, apparently in a car parked near a tourist beach.

The caning happened on Thursday. Mr Husaini added that Mukhlis would be expelled from the MPU.

The 46-year-old is also an Islamic religious leader. He is the first religious leader to be publicly caned in Aceh since Sharia law came into force in 2005.

The MPU advises the local government and legislature on drafting and implementing Sharia law in Aceh.

Aceh was granted special rights to introduce its own stricter Islamic laws more than a decade ago.

Laws against homosexuality were passed in 2014 and came into effect the following year.

Extra-marital sex, gambling, and the consumption, production and distribution of alcohol are all illegal under Sharia law.

In 2017, two men were caned 83 times each in Aceh after they were caught having sex.

Canes are typically made from ratan. Those carrying out the caning have all their body parts, except their eyes, covered to stop them from being identified.

The caning must take place publicly on an open air platform, though children are barred from watching.

Sharia law applies to Muslims and non-Muslims alike in Aceh.

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The head of the Commercial Division of the High Court, Justice David K. Wangutusi, has urged Mubende and Mityana district Leaders to embrace mediation as a cost effective, speedy and efficient alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

The judge made the call on Thursday at the opening function for meditation skills training for Mubende High Court Circuit on at Enro Hotel, Mityana.

 “Mediation does not only reduce the huge case backlog in the Courts of Judicature but also maintains relationships of the parties,” he said.

He encouraged the leaders to embrace small claims procedure as it provides greater access to justice. This is a civil claim whose subject matter value does not exceed Shs10 million. For example, the small claims procedure (SCP) can be used for matters arising out of the supply of goods, debts and rent.

The participants included district chairpersons, resident district commissioners, community development and probation officers, religious leaders, opinion leaders and advocates of Mubende, Kassanda, Mityana and Kiboga districts.

Mubende district chairperson Kibuuka Bazigatirawo Amooti disclosed that though he had been doing mediation in his district he did not have the necessary skills and thanked the judiciary for providing an opportunity to the leaders to acquire mediation skills.

The course coordinator his worship, Kisawuzi Elias Omar the Registrar in charge of mediation express the need for mediation which could help parties settle their disputes out of court.

He encouraged the leaders in the region to sensitize the communities about mediation using all avenues like radio stations promised that more mediation skills training will be extended to other parts of the country in the future.

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