East African governments should manage human activities in biodiversity to save forest and wetland loss, a Ugandan environmentalist said on Wednesday.

Kimbowa Richard with the East African Sustainability Watch Network (EASWN) said record shows that environmental degradation has reached high levels in the region.

"With its vast resources, the East African countries have a huge potential to uplift people from poverty if there are sustainable management for water, forests, wetlands, wildlife and climate," Kimbowa said.

Kimbowa attributed the rate of forest and wetland ecosystem loss to fast growing population’s needs of water and fuel for cooking and lighting, and food insecurity due to delayed rains caused by climate change.

"The widespread use of polluting fuels and technologies for cooking continues to pose serious health and socioeconomic concerns in the region," he said. He also suggested that the use of clean cooking technologies would restore the environment and improve the health condition for population in the region.

He said that the region requires solutions such as improved smokeless cook stoves, household size bio-gas plants, solar energy technologies, and improved water mills, adaptation technologies, organic farming, agro-forestry and woodlot establishment to meet energy and food needs.

(Cover photo by VCG. )

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