Uganda: Invasive Dangerous Weeds Threatening Wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Says official
By Staff Writer
Invasive weeds, most especially the congress weed, are threatening the co-existence of bio-diversity in Queen Elizabeth National Park more than poaching, Nelson Guma has said.
Guma, the area conservation manager for Queen Elizabeth and Rwenzori national parks last Wednesday July 9 said the congress weed, which is also known as Parthenium hysterophorus, was first sighted in the game park in 2011.
“The weed is poisonous to humans and animals. Once inhaled it causes respiratory problems like chocking, coughing and sneezing, and to animals it causes abortions when it is accidentally chewed with other grass,” Guma told journalists who visited the park.
He said the weed grows faster than any other plant in the national park, adding that its seeds are dispersed after getting stuck on fur of wild animals and by wind, which transport them to other areas.
Guma said the weed originating from Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, was most likely brought into the park accidentally when its seeds got stuck on a vehicle which visited the park.
The weed has since covered about 25 square kilometres of Queen Elizabeth National Park out of the total 30,000 square kilometres.
“The weed grows very fast and out compete’s the other types of vegetation,” he said.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority is doing a research on how to control the spread of the weed, with interventions including uprooting and burning the weed to ensure that its seeds do not germinate.
Guma said the park is also affected by other types of invasive species such as the Karahari tree and lantana camera.
Meanwhile dangerous weeds such as water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes) and Hippo Grass have threaten the very existence of many African countries that depend on Lake Victoria causing it to shrink affecting people whose livelihood depend on it and aquatic life.
About 6,300 tonnes of the water hyacinth has been invading Lake Victoria per day, for about three years now. The weed is threatening to choke the lake like it did in the 1989-1990’s.
The water hyacinth, with its characteristic thick-floating mats, has reduced the supply of clean water, caused difficulties in water extraction, increased transportation costs and reduced fish catches.
It has also decreased the number of landing sites and disrupted power generation at Jinja due to build-up of the weed on the dam.
The water weed, which is native to South America, entered Lake Victoria from Rwanda via River Kagera near Kasensero in Rakai district.
Lake Naivasha in Kenya, Kariba Dam in Ghana too have been invaded by the water weed
Water Hyacinth, Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and Water Fern (Salvinia molesta) pose the most serious problems.