Commercial Flower Farms Integrated Catchment Management Partnership
Nature Uganda in collaboration with the Ministry of Water and Environment and Uganda Flower Farmer’s Association co-initiated the “Commercial Flower Farms Integrated Catchment Management (CFF-ICM) Partnership” to promote sustainable and wise use of water and wetland resources by the commercial flower farms in Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA). The overall objective of the partnership is to strengthen collaboration between the public, private sector and non-state actors in the flower industry for sustainable use of natural resources in GKMA.
As commercial flower farms continue to expand their operations in the catchment areas around GKMA, conflicts over resources such as water and wetlands, which they depend on for business operations are also increasing.
There are increasing concerns towards demand for CFFs to undertake due diligence on whether they are implicated directly in any harm caused to people, animals, nature and environment anywhere in the value chain.
Transparency in reporting about environment performance is increasingly becoming an important demand for compliance to international market standards. However, the weak institutional framework to monitor compliance, inadequate skilled personnel and costs remain major compliance challenges for stakeholders in the flower sector in Uganda.
At farm level, there are limited skills and low levels of knowledge amongst farm workers to follow national compliance and regulatory requirements, occupational safety and health measures, inadequate record keeping and data management, insufficient water, and wastewater monitoring systems, among others. These challenges coupled with weak/irregular enforcement of regulations, and limited compliance assistance from the relevant government departments not only threatens the investments of the flower farms but results into declining capacity of wetland resources to provide critical ecosystem services.
Project Goal
Secure the integrity of the Semagimbi wetland for the benefit of the communities, CFF Partnership and the environment
Specific objectives of the partnership are:
- To improve compliance to national regulations and international standards by the commercial flower farms.
- To safeguard jobs and investments through strengthened collaboration on occupational safety and health practices, environmental management practices for commercial flower farms and surrounding communities.
- To establish a mechanism for reducing waste generated from commercial flower farms for sustainable use of water and wetland resources in GKMA.
In this partnership, Nature Uganda received funding from the GIZ to implement a project titled “Support to the sustainable use of water and wetland resources for the flower farms and neighbouring communities in Greater Kampala Metropolitan area”. The project is being implemented in Semagimbi Wetland, Mpigi District.
Specific objectives
- Develop a wetland management plan for Semagimbi wetland and implement selected measures
- Undertake mobilization and sensitization campaign on sustainable use and conservation of wetland and water resources
- Initiate and support alternative livelihood options to wetland user communities adjacent to selected CFFS.
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