I CARE: Indigenous Conservation, Agroecology, and Restoration of Ecosystems

Our Roots and the Urgent Crisis

Guided by spirituality and our lifelong call to nature restoration, NASACURI acquired a 5 acre piece of land on the shores of Lake Wamala at Butebi, a semi-island. For generations, our communities have lived in perfect harmony with this landscape, guided by traditional ecological wisdom. To us, Lake Wamala is far more than just a body of water; it is a culturally sacred, historically vital freshwater ecosystem. Indigenous trees like Olukindukindu (Wild Palm), Omuziru, Omukunyu, bamboo among others, are not just plants, they are the anchors of our soil, the protectors of our waters, and the living canvas of our cultural heritage.

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At its heart, NASACURI’s I CARE project is more than a seasonal conservation campaign; it is a lifelong commitment to restoring the sacred relationship between our communities and the living earth. We would like the reviewers to note three critical points regarding our readiness, long term vision, and sustainability:

·         Climate-Adaptive Infrastructure: While NASACURI already possesses a 5,000-liter rainwater harvesting tank at our Butebi center, erratic dry seasons make rainwater unreliable. By allocating a portion of this award toward a solar water pump, we will be able to draw water directly from Lake Wamala to keep our 10,000 native seedlings alive during intense dry spells. Additionally, upgrading our center’s degraded solar battery ensures our team has reliable energy to process project reports and consistently upload field tracking data to the Restor platform.

·         High Community Cohesion & Trust:  Our leadership stems directly from traditional custodians and elders, we possess deep communal trust. This will ensures the boundaries we map and protect will be respected by the community long after the grant period ends.

·         A Catalyst for Scale: While this application focuses on a critical 10 acre buffer zone around Lake Wamala, it serves as the operational blueprint for our broader vision to propagate 1,000,000 indigenous trees across 2,000 acres in Uganda. Winning this Award will contribute to create a permanent, self-sustaining community nursery capable of driving landscape-scale healing for years to come.

Today, aggressive encroachment, commercial development, and climate shifts are severing our sacred connection. Local community practices have shifted toward small-scale farming characterized by heavy chemical use that severely pollutes the lake. Crucial indigenous medicinal trees are being cleared for charcoal burning, and natural forest ecosystems are being replaced with eucalyptus by commercial developers. Once the commercial conifers are removed, the unprotected shoreline becomes highly vulnerable to severe winds and hailstorms, resulting in the destruction of our crops and homesteads. The degradation of native species has triggered unpredictable rainfall, rising temperatures, and unproductive soils, causing low crop yields and an overall loss of much-needed biodiversity.

Women, who have relied on these spaces for fuel wood, wild food, medicinal herbs, and sacred rituals to avert communal calamities, we are now facing the brunt of seasonal changes and harsh climatic conditions. We are at a tipping point. The time to restore our sacred spaces and buffer zones is right now.

Our Operational Approach & Strategy To heal this landscape, NASACURI will actively restore these degraded areas at Butebi, Bukanaga, Nkonywa, Katiko, Kimuli through strategic propagation and adaptive care:

§  Targeted Restoration: We will propagate 10,000 native seedlings at our established NASACURI nursery and strengthen our demonstration gardens for agroecology. These seedlings will be planted across 10 acres of 200-meter buffer zones, lakeside sacred sites, schools, religious grounds, and traditional palaces. Accounting for unpredictable weather, we project a realistic initial survival rate of 80%. To guarantee long-term success, our team is committed to a rigorous replacement strategy: the nursery will remain active to continuously propagate and replace any lost seedlings until all selected sites achieve full, stable forest cover.

§  Community Training & Stewardship:  We will conduct 10 hands-on community workshops blending modern forestry techniques with traditional ecological knowledge. Over 200 community members will be trained in seed collection, nursery preparation, organic pest management, and tree health monitoring, turning passive participants into active guardians of our land.

§  Intergenerational Mentorship: We will pair 10 youth leaders with traditional elders to document and preserve indigenous ecological conservation practices, ensuring ancestral wisdom is passed down to the next generation.

§  Policy Advocacy: We will engage the public through 2 radio talk shows and work across 3 stakeholder levels: local leaders, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and local government agencies (National Environment Management Authority) to strictly enforce environmental laws.

§  Incentivizing Our Women and Youth:  To actively sustain their energy, engagement, and leadership, we will utilize cultural sports and games as a motivation tool, procuring necessary materials, costumes, and instruments to support 4 community teams.

Partnerships for True Conservation

NASACURI will continuously collaborate and strengthen its partnership by;

§  Technical Support: Partnering with cultural institutions, academia, and civil society organizations (CSOs) to guide our research and information sharing.

§  Community Custodians: Empowering local youth and women’s groups as the core, daily guardians of the restored sites.

§  Governmental Alliances: Working directly with the District Natural Resources office in Mityana District, District Forestry Officer, and the District Water Officer to influence policy and enforce strict environmental bye/laws around the lake.

§  Global Networks: Actively participating in platforms like United Religions Imitative (URI), Advocacy for Sustainable Agriculture (ACSA), URI Environmental Networks, and the Gaia Foundation that promote the "Rights of Nature" and community Led conservation efforts.

Project Operations, Monitoring, and Evaluation

Continuous follow ups and monitoring will be done to ensure the planted trees germinate by NASACURI team and community trained youth volunteers alongside;

§  Monitoring: Every six months, a joint assessment team comprising Mityana District Natural Resources Officer, District Forest Officer, and NASACURI technical staff will conduct formal audits. They will map tree survival coordinates on Restor measure baseline shoreline water filtration, and audit nursery stock.

§  Weather Adaptive Replacement Strategy: Recognizing Uganda’s increasingly unpredictable rainy seasons, our nursery functions as a living insurance policy. If a prolonged dry spell drops our initial survival below the target 80%, the active community nursery will continuously supply mature seedlings for rapid enrichment planting during the next optimal rain window.

Post Project Sustainability): Defending Lake Wamala is part of our spiritual purpose, not a finite contract. Beyond Month September, 2027, the 10 youth leaders and 10 sacred site custodians officially transition into permanent Grassroots Environmental Caretakers. Because the 10 protection zones are deeply anchored to traditional palaces, schools, and active sacred grounds, local community structures assume total day-to-day custody. Ongoing survival tracking will be sustained via local elder councils, ensuring the trees grow into a permanent ancestral forest cover. 

Our Team & Leadership

NASACURI is led by Birungi Elizabeth, a dedicated custodian of indigenous knowledge who answers a lifelong, personal call to nature restoration.  Birungi and NASACURI team works directly alongside traditional custodians of these sacred sites, community elders, and indigenous communities, blending ancestral wisdom with nature based healing to protect our heritage from catastrophe. The project will be co-implemented by a strong technical team, including the Mityana District Natural Resources officer, District Forestry Officer, and the District Water Officer, ensuring structural and ecological expertise at every step.

 Our Long Term Vision Our journey does not stop at the lake shores. NASACURI is deeply committed to propagating 1,000,000 indigenous medicinal and fruit tree seedlings over the coming years. This will expand our reach across 2,000 acres covering 360 sacred and community spaces, including schools, religious institutions, and private lands. Through this dedication, we will restore our ecosystems, build climate resilience, and inspire a new generation of proud environmental stewards across Uganda.