ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENT GETTING DEGRADED

By Nyeko Martine

I read with concern the article by Mr. Cyril Mugenyi. I don't want to say Mr Cyril is very right or very wrong, rather I would like to be more explicit.

We are all aware that our environment is getting degraded every second of life and we are responsible to this.

The truth is Eucalyptus as pointed out in the article, produces biomass very rapidly and this is associated to water consumption.

Although Eucalyptus is not rated highest as reported by Davidson (1989) in water consumption, because of its huge plantation, the aggregated effect on water resources can be severe.

According to Davidson (1989) most eucalyptus species need on average 785 litres of water/kg of biomass produced as opposed to other crops like cotton/coffee/banana (3200), sunflower(2400), field pea(2000), cow pea(1667) soybean(1430), potato(1000), sorghum(1000) and maize(1000) liters/kg biomass produced.

These other crops are all seasonal, lasting between three to four months but Eucalyptus is perennial and ever green. Secondly, the total biomass produce by this crops is much less compared to Eucalyptus.

If we use simple mathematics, one young eucalyptus tree weighing 50Kg take 50x785 (litre) of water and this is equivalent to many heads of sunflowers.

This does not mean putting a ban on Eucalyptus, but rather watching the potential effect of this trees on our environment. We need to conduct research to find out the best way forward.

Being a complex system, it is not Eucalyptus parse, that is causing water level decline in Western Uganda or Uganda in general, but a combination of factors including Eucalyptus.

Alot of concern have been raised about the potential negative impact of Eucalyptus on water resources, although without scientific backing, intuitively one gets concern if he/she sees a tree surviving very green even under odd condition. Let us define how eucalyptus should be managed, to avoid negligence.

Nyeko Martine
Lecturer Gulu University/PhD student (Italy)

Email:nyekomartine@gmail.com