Salome Alweny
21 May 2008
analysis
The cycads in Mpanga Gorge are internationally listed as being at risk of extinction and the ongoing dam project in its habitat adds fresh threats, writes Salome Alweny
Uganda and the world could be at the brink of losing the only surviving cycad species on the planet in Mpanga Gorge to give way to a dam construction project on Mpanga River, located in the north eastern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Mpanga Small Hydro Power Station is being built just outside the park, immediately above the waterfall in the section of the valley by an energy developer South Asia Energy Management Systems Inc. represented in Uganda by African Energy Management Systems, Mpanga.
This power project is expected to generate 18.0 mega watts of electricity to supply Kamwenge District and also add to the national grid.
Environmental experts also warn that the diversion of water from the main river before the Mpanga Falls, and releasing the water back into the river after the falls, will in effect "kill" the falls, yet Mpanga falls is a great tourist attraction in the area and a lot of tourism attraction infrastructure has already been planned for it.
The dam project is constructed in an area where the world's only few remaining cycad trees are mostly found. The proposed hydropower development will have serious negative impact on the survival of the internationally endangered species with the current developments such as road construction in the area.
Cycads are primitive trees which date back 300 million years. They have now been out-competed by more recent plants and are reduced to a few scattered colonies in the tropics.
The cycad resident species Encephalartos whitelockii is found only in Mpanga Gorge and prior to recent events was probably the largest colony in the world. Encephalartos whitelockii is an odd looking plant resembling a spiky tree fern stuck onto a gnarled palm trunk and decorated when in fruit by giant pineapples (actually cones) up to 45cm long.
The plant is listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites appendix 1) as highly endangered and all countries that are lucky to have them are called to guard it jealously for reasons including its beauty as a tourist attraction.
An Australian cycad expert Mr Peter Heibloem believes that Mpanga contains "probably the largest cycad colony in the world and the botanical equivalent of the Bengal tiger or giant panda" - or indeed Uganda's own mountain gorillas. Heibloem compares Mpanga favourably with the Mojaji cycad reserve in South Africa which though world famous, has far fewer plants.
Heibloem further says that "a site approved programme to raise plants from seeds could sell plants to collectors for over $100 each. Seeds sell for up to $20".
"How, one might ask, it is possible to destroy such a remarkable location so quietly? Interested conservation organisations seem unaware that this unique forest is actually in the process of being bulldozed" said a source who peferred anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
"It seems that this dam agreement may have been hush-hush and they are rushing to complete it before anyone makes a fuss," another source who preferred anoyminty said.
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and other conservation organisations have objected to the Environmental Impact Assessment that was prepared for the proposal, but Nema has approved the project and work in the gorge has begun.
Nema however, does not deny that they approved it. "We had approved it [the EIA] but after some time, we discovered that some information was not given to us in the Environmental Impact Study [EIS]. After discovering that, we had to ask the developer to revisit it," Nema's senior environmental impact assessment coordinator Mr Waiswa Ayazika said.
Ema Consult Limited, a private firm, conducted the EIS, a study always carried out to find out the likely environmental impacts a proposed project may have on the environment. The private firm thereafter handed over its report to Nema for approval.
Nema's executive director Dr Henry Aryamanya Mugisha said the authority has dispatched its senior experts to inspect the site and basing on the outcome, "we shall find a way of scientifically replanting them [the cycads]," Aryamanya said. He added that a meeting involving all stakeholders including those from the Directorate of Water Development (Dwd), Cites, Nfa, Kamwenge Local Government, Ministry of Energy and Uwa, has been planned for May 23, to chart a way forward and to guide the developer appropriately.
"We also want to see the possibility of establishing the power house upstream the water falls," Dr Aryamanya said, although he reckons that any option before the falls would generate far less megawatts than the targeted 18 MW.
Residents say the ongoing construction is already affecting tourism. They cite a couple from Kenya who were in the safari/conservation business and opted to visit Mpanga Gorge because they had read about it (in Uganda's Great Rift Valley book) and were very familiar with the importance of the cycad trees returned to their country very disappointed.
"They were shocked to see uprooted cycad trees just lying on the side of the road, and wanted to pick them but had no way of ferrying them away," reported one. "They were very upset about what they saw because they understand the ecological importance of this area."
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