By Madeleine NGEUNGA Credits: This investigative story is the first part of a series co-published by InfoCongo, Oxpeckers and The Museba Project, with support from the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN). “Are we ready to risk 60 thousand hectares for Camvert, a company that has no experience in oil palm plantations?” asked Samuel Nguiffo, […]
Posted inWater
Investigation raises concerns over plastic waste accumulation on the shores of Africa’s Rift Valley lakes
By Water Journalist Africa An investigation into the concentration of microplastics in some Africa Rift Valley lakes has found no traces of microplastics there. However, the plastic wastes are visible on the major landing sites, raising fears over the whereabouts of these dangerous residues. The shorelines are littered with polythene bags and used plastic bottles […]
Posted inWater
River Nile, a freeway of plastics from African great lakes to Mediterranean Sea
Fredrick Mugira, Bertha Fellow Two small rivers in western Uganda: Mpanga, and Rwizi, are choking on plastic waste, carrying it to lakes that drain into the River Nile. Once in the Nile, this plastic debris may flow into the Mediterranean Sea. Mpanga River traverses Fort Portal, a city of 52,911 population, picking up all […]
Posted inWater
Polluted by custodians: Fishers pollute African Great Lakes with plastics
Fredrick Mugira, Bertha Fellow When the sun had nearly set, John Depari and two other fishers slowed down their motorized boat and said to one another, “It is here,” before casting nets somewhere in the quiet waters of Lake Edward in western Uganda. It was not only the nets they cast: there were stones, empty […]
Posted inAll Stories
From source to water bodies and dining table: Tracking the journey of plastics in Uganda
Fredrick Mugira, Bertha Fellow 25th April 2022 Last February, Ramathan Kimbugwe, the CEO of Prowess Communications Company, was jogging early morning when he noticed something strange about a river in his community. Thousands of used plastic bottles were heaping in Rwizi, a lifeline river for over five million people in southwestern Uganda, at a point […]
Posted inClimate Change
A Ugandan city powered by solar welcomes COP26 agenda to speed up affordable cleantech
Fredrick Mugira, November 23 2021 A city in southwestern Uganda has welcomed the new Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda that over 35 world leaders signed at the UN summit on climate change in Glasgow to see countries and businesses work together to dramatically scale and speed up the development and deployment of clean technologies and drive down […]
Posted inAll Stories
How gorillas stole a Ugandan forest from humans, bloomed it as it bloomed them
Fredrick Mugira. December 18, 2020 This story was first published by New Vision In the shadows of giant trees, deep within the Bwindi Impenetrable forest, nature is at its rawest. The maze of green trees, dark and humid undergrowth shrouded in a smoky haze, makes its name: impenetrable forest, very apt. This is where Kyomukama […]
Posted inWater
New media tools for water journalism: How to leverage the modern digital toolbox
Water Journalist Africa, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) 2022 was a year of intensifying water risks worldwide; rivers and reservoirs reached historic lows, flooding devastated regions, and droughts caused significant impacts on agriculture. 2023 is already seeing similar warning signs. As the summer months go on, water risks are becoming increasingly prevalent. Several regions […]
Posted inLand
Bungoma residents mull relocation as dumpsite smell makes environment toxic
Tony Wafula Located in Kenya’s fertile Western region and at the foot of Mount Elgon, Bungoma County is a dream home area for many people- except the area residents who are contemplating relocating to other areas. Residents living near the county dumpsite are appealing to the relevant authorities to move them to other areas due to […]
Posted inClimate Change
A lifestyle conservation brand changes people’s lives in Uganda, empowering them to conserve endangered mountain gorillas
Derrick Amoako and Big Gorilla Story Project That Gorilla Brand is helping the endangered mountain gorilla in Uganda and the human communities surrounding their habitats live improved lives. The Big Gorilla Story project, a project of Water Journalists Africa, talked to Leo Gripari, CEO of That Gorilla Brand, about how and why they have supported the […]
Posted inWater
920 million people could face conflict over the world’s rivers by 2050: what our study found in Africa
Sophie de Bruin, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project on the Nile River started operating in February 2022. It reinforced tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. The three countries rely most heavily on the Nile’s water. Sudan and Egypt consider the US$4.6 billion dam a threat to vital water supplies. Ethiopia sees […]
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University students spotlight priceless value of groundwater during InfoNile science communication competitions
Water Journalists Africa From Gambia to Burundi and Uganda, groundwater is being contaminated and threatened. And in the near future, it could be depleted due to human activities and consumption despite the lack of accurate data about how much remains underground. Climate change is already affecting groundwater in multiple ways. Rising temperatures and decreased rainfall […]
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A fairer deal for waste pickers
Anibal’s story It is 8am, Anibal Muhate is waiting for a truck to arrive. His yard is full of neat piles of solid waste, separated by material type. It’s not a bin truck sent round by the municipality like those of us in the UK are used to. It’s a truck sent by a factory […]
Posted inWater
Uganda’s First ever Red List for Fishes Shades Light on Conservation
Andrew Aijuka Ngege fish species (oreochromis esculentus) is a typical delicacy among fish-loving Ugandans. It is indigenous to Lake Victoria and its affluent rivers, lake Nabugabo, lake Kyoga basin, and the Victoria Nile. However, Ngege is a critically endangered fish species with a high risk of facing extinction. This assessment is entailed in Uganda’s first […]
Posted inWater
Southern African nations to build new dams to support farming amid water scarcity
Shoks Mnisi Mzolo in South Africa Building on the record of a successful treaty that resulted in the construction of dams eSwatini and South Africa, the pair are set to build more dams in the Komati Basin for irrigation to support agriculture on either side of the border. The treaty facilitated the construction of eSwatini’s […]
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Action urged to scale up finance for Uganda’s water sector
Andrew Aijuka It is a few months to the reading of Uganda’s National Budget. Uganda’s planning and budgeting are informed by national needs. So, in every fiscal year, the budget addresses a national need. The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in December 2022 tabled a National Budget Framework Paper totaling Shs 49.9 trillion […]
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UN leaders push for innovative financing for water as world grapples with water-related disasters
By Annika McGinnis More than 10,000 participants gathered at the United Nations headquarters and online to push for global attention to the world’s escalating water crisis during the UN 2023 Water Conference that convened from 22-24 March in New York. Co-hosted by the governments of Tajikstan and the Netherlands, the first UN Water Conference in 46 […]
Posted inWater
Groundwater Plays a Role in Reducing Gender-Based Violence in an Eastern Ugandan Community
By Melanie Aanyu This story first aired on Time FM in Eastern Uganda. It was supported by InfoNile with a grant from the Nile Basin Initiative. A section of girls and women in the Eastern Sub-region of Bugisu have revealed that the quest for water that used to expose them to rapists, defilers, and cannibals […]
Posted inWater
Western Kenya residents fear for their livelihoods as boreholes run dry
Jesse Chenge jchenge@nationmedia.co.ke Mt Elgon is one of Kenya’s main water towers. It is located north of Lake Victoria along the Nile Basin and reaches an altitude of 4,321 meters above sea level. The Mountain forms the upper catchment area for two major rivers: Nzoia and Turkwel, and provides water to the Malakisi River. […]
Posted inWater
Plastic bottle: The enemy within
Fredrick Mugira, Bertha Challenge Fellow After he had finished drinking his soda, Elioda Nabasa left the used Coca-cola plastic bottle in the pickup truck he was traveling in. Unaware of the presence of the used bottle, Bukenya Robert drove the car to the washing bay in Rwebikoona, Mbarara city, southwestern Uganda. Only identified as Murefu, […]
Posted inWater
MSF France sounds alarm as Cholera cases in Malawi soar
By George Mhango, Blantyre Increasing cases of Cholera in Mangochi—one of the 24 affected districts in Malawi—has forced the international medical humanitarian organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), to sound an SOS for the provision of more medical supplies to deal with the disease. This follows the visit to three treatment units, Koche, Monkey-Bay, and Cape […]