By: Our Reporter

The Alur Kingdom has called for greater involvement of women in environmental conservation, saying their central role in household activities makes them critical partners in efforts to protect natural resources and respond to climate change.

Kingdom officials say women are among the major users of natural resources, particularly firewood, yet continued cutting of trees for household energy is contributing to environmental degradation. They are therefore calling for increased community sensitisation and concerted tree-planting efforts to replace depleted vegetation and promote sustainable use of natural resources.

Alur Kingdom Prime Minister, Prince Lawrence Opar Angala, says women should not only be targeted as beneficiaries of environmental programmes but should be directly involved in planning and implementing conservation activities. He argues that their daily interaction with natural resources puts them in a strategic position to influence positive environmental practices within households and communities.

Kakura Emmy Kizito, Executive Director of Life Concern (LICO), a Zombo-based non-governmental organisation involved in community development, education, livelihoods and environmental conservation, supports the call. LICO has recently launched a two-year Stand for Climate Justice Project in Zombo aimed at strengthening climate resilience, protecting wetlands and water sources, and promoting the preservation of indigenous seeds.

Kizito says women can become effective implementers of environmental programmes when they are adequately sensitised and given the opportunity to participate. Life Concern has also previously partnered with other organisations on tree-planting and environmental awareness activities in Zombo, highlighting the need for communities to use trees sustainably and curb careless cutting.

Irene Apio of SPACE, an organisation working with communities and local leaders on environmental accountability and climate action in West Nile, says conservation cannot be left to a particular group because the effects of environmental degradation and climate change affect everyone. SPACE is implementing the Strengthening Environmental Accountability and Climate Action Project in West Nile, which covers parts of Zombo District, including Atyak, Kango, Nyapea, Abanga and Paidha. The project promotes public awareness, sustainable natural-resource management, ecosystem restoration and community participation.

The stakeholders are now urging women, men, cultural leaders, local authorities and community groups to work together in protecting forests, wetlands and water sources, while increasing tree planting to strengthen the resilience of communities in the Alur region.