Posted on June 16, 2025
River Khamitsaru, which originates from Mt Elgon, serves the four districts of Namisindwa, Manafwa, Tororo, and Butaleja, and empties into River Mpologoma in Kibuku district.
Over 20 years, the riverbank has been degraded by the communities that live nearby, through illegal sand mining and poor farming practices.
Residents have planted crops at the river’s edge and this has changed the course of the river, creating deep gullies and islands in the middle of the river. As a consequence, the river has widened in some areas.
In a bid to restore the ecosystem around River Khamitsaru, the Mt. Elgon Project and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) have earmarked 38 sub-counties with high levels of degradation in the nine districts of Namisindwa, Kween, Bukwo, Bududa, Sironko, Manafwa, Bulambuli, Kapchorwa and Mbale.
The aim of the Mt Elgon project, often referred to as the Mt Elgon Integrated Conservation and Development Project (MEICDP), is to enhance the conservation of ecosystems in the Mt Elgon region, with a focus on sustainable rural livelihoods and food security.
The project is managed by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) and supported by various national institutions and organisations. MEICDP’s goals include transitioning the landscape to a sustainable, biodiverse, climate-resilient, and integrated area, with a focus on improving the value chains of key crops.
The project also aims to empower communities to manage their production landscapes in an integrated manner, contributing to improved livelihoods and ecosystem resilience.
The degradation of River Khamitsaru has been largely attributed to sand mining on the riverbank
Over 20,000 hectares of degraded ecosystems and farmlands will be restored by reforestation. NEMA has started the initiative by planting bamboo trees along the riverbank.
Silting of the river
Wilson Maremu, the LCIII chairperson of Bugobero sub-county in Manafwa district, blames the degradation of River Khamitsaru on poor land management.
“The people who live in the vicinity of the river have planted crops on the riverbank and destroyed it. Others are mining sand in the river, which weakens the riverbank. Now, during the rainy season, huge volumes of water come with a lot of force and wash away all the fertile soil, trees, and crops,” he says.
Sand mining on the riverbank has also contributed to the loosening of soil. Stakeholders believe if the status quo does not change the region might face food insecurity.
Hosea Kigai Kimono, the LCV chairperson of Manafwa district, blamed the riverbank’s degradation on the exponential growth of the population which has put pressure on the environment.
“We have failed to construct a bridge on the river because its breadth keeps changing, widening in some places. People have cut down trees on the mountainside, so there is no barrier to the soil that rushes down to the river during heavy downpours,” he says.
David Mandu, the district’s natural resource officer, explains that a few years ago the riverbank was intact, however today, people have forced their way beyond the recommended 100 metres of the buffer zone.
“River Khamitsaru is not the only one being degraded. The problem cuts across the region. Under the Mt Elgon project, two rivers – River Nekina and River Kaato – are going to be restored. We have also trained the communities near River Khamitsaru to ensure that the bamboo we planted grows,” he says.
Due to the land pressure in the Mt Elgon region, and the fact that the river is a small one, it was agreed that a five-metre buffer zone be enforced. The bamboo trees were planted three metres from the riverbank.
“If the communities do not embrace tree planting, nature will not request for a buffer zone: it will take it on its own. Based on the current state of the river, we will continue losing more land to the river,” Mandu adds.
The degradation of River Khamitsaru has been largely attributed to sand mining on the riverbank. PHOTO/ DAVID WANDEKA
Mitigation measures
Engagement with the community is key to the sustainability of the Mt Elgon project. The landowners have actively participated in the tree planting and will be key in ensuring the trees grow.
“The community appreciates the problem. In this rainy season, the challenges associated with a degraded river bank are visible,” Mandu adds.
Stephen David Mugabi, the director of the Directorate of Environment Affairs in MWE, calls for action because a clean, safe, and productive environment is the responsibility of every citizen.
“World Environment Day is meant to campaign for the protection and restoration of our biodiversity and to call for action from all organisations, the government, and individuals to halt biodiversity loss through curbing deforestation on land and on the hills, limiting encroachment on riverbanks and lake shores, and restoring our catchments,” he explains.
In last year’s population census, Uganda’s population grew by 11.3 percent over the last ten years. This means the fight between conservation and development has only just begun. As the population continues to increase, degradation of riverbanks, lakeshores, and wetlands is a challenge many community leaders have to tackle head-on.
River sand mining is the extraction of sand and gravel from the drainage network of a river. By its nature, this practice affects the environment. The severity, however, depends on the rate, type, and execution of the extraction.
When the extraction rate is higher than the rate of natural replenishment, problems arise. The type of extraction also influences the magnitude of the impact on the environment.
Lastly, if the execution is not done sustainably and responsibly, the severity of the impact increases.
Generally, five types of mining are recognised, including channel-wide in-stream mining, wet pit excavation, dry pit excavation, bar excavation, and bar skimming. Indiscriminate river sand mining directly influences the shape of the riverbed. This often results in many indirect and cumulative effects on the physical characteristics and the dynamic equilibrium of erosion and sedimentation of a river.
When sediment is extracted from the riverbed the sediment-supply balance tends to migrate upstream to compensate for the supply deficiency. When this happens, it causes increased erosion of the riverbed and riverbanks.
The more sediment the river is carrying, the less energy is left for erosion. If the river deposits (part of) its sediment, the river will have more energy left for erosion. In the case of river mining, the sediment is deposited in the pits after the nick point and the water will erode downstream.
Another way the riverbed is widened is by pit capturing. When wet pit mining is performed close to the active river channel, the wall of sediment separating the pit from the channel can collapse during high-flow regimes.
Effects on the biological environment
The effects that have been observed so far all show that river sand mining is degrading the biological environment and can have cascading effects on the entire food chain and ecosystem services. A stable riverbed is one of the conditions that ensure the (long-term) survival of many species.
The sand layer on the solid riverbed is a hospitable environment for many microorganisms. Removal of the sand means instability and a loss of habitat for these organisms.
Aquatic vegetation and microorganisms play an important role in maintaining the balance and health of the river’s biological environment and when the balance in this ecosystem is disturbed it can be pushed to or crossed over a tipping point. The extraction of sand stirs up the water and increases turbidity.
This, in turn, blocks sunlight and reduces respiration and photosynthesis, but can also block the respiratory organs of aquatic animals. When deposited, the stirred-up particles like silt and clay form a blanket on the river bed which can smother microorganisms such as diatoms, macro-invertebrates, benthic algae, or fish eggs.
The effects of river sand mining extend far beyond the immediate mining sites. The effects on the physical- and biological environment are often cumulative and therefore hard to quantify and assess. However, the observed effects generally result in a decreased geo- and biodiversity.
The complexity and cascading nature of the effects show the urgency and severity of the problem. Rapidly developing countries of Asia and Africa require science-based policies and active enforcement.
Humanity is heavily dependent on well-functioning ecosystems and a constant flow of ecosystem services from nature to society.
The extraction of sand, a provisioning service, is shown to affect an entire network of ecosystem services and therewith the availability of numerous ecosystem service flows.
