🌿 Meet Nalubaaga: A wetland applying for her ‘Personal’ ID 📝

Plot twist: Our ancestors already gave her citizenship ages ago! They named her "Mother of Sharing" (way before the sharing economy was cool 😉)

Fun fact: She's been sharing life with us all (reptiles, birds, plants, humans, Impalas, etc) for centuries, but lost her “property” rights during British rule 🏠 -> 🚫 (Not cool, colonialism. Not cool.)

Want to join her decolonisation and restoration journey? Here's how:

#ETHtoEarth #Web3Wetlands #TotemTech

P.S. When nature owns more of herself, more of us live in abundance 🌱

SHORT STORY: ON ALIGNING HUMAN ACTIVITY WITH THE LAND'S ESSENCE We’ve been holding Neighbourhood Kinship Dialogues to understand how people experience this place so that we can reconcile their dreams with the place’s potential. Today we are convening the neighbourhood living in semi-permanent structures in the wetland. It’s Kato’s turn. He picks up a red pepper and starts telling his story of how sour the hardest day of his life was in this place.

“When someone touches this red pepper, he becomes uneasy. When I came to this place in 2020 from somewhere and started living in that house, the flood water did not treat me well. On Christmas Eve, I bought meat for Christmas celebrations. But it rained and flooded in the house and the floods took my meat when am seeing. You might laugh but I have witnesses. Spaghetti went when am seeing, even ducks came when they were dead, because of that stream. I felt anger because I did not eat the meat yet I bought it when I wanted it. So in 2020, I was mistreated but even to date am still mistreated.”

Kato’s story above is one of many stories that define a development paradigm misaligned with the essence and potential of a place.

Landowners along Nalubaaga wetland want to hold tight onto their fragmented pieces of land. But this sensitive asset (Land) is also the source of the collective will needed to co-create the thriving future they (and the wetland) want -by recommoning land to collectively develop its essence and potential. So, we are convening neighbourhoods to generate the collective will to co-design a different future come 2030.

THE STORY OF KAMPALA. Kampala’s name stems from a deep kinship between its hills, wetlands, impalas, and humans. Formed over 65 million years ago by tectonic forces, the hills were grazed and wetlands drank by impalas for millions of years. Humans, recognizing this bond, named the area "Kasozi ka Impala" (hill of Impalas), which later evolved into Kampala. This name reflects a harmonious relation between humans, nature, and land that existed for ages.

However, in the 1800s, colonial interventions disrupted this harmony, relocating Impalas, and speculative fragmentation of land leading to social fragmentation and urban sprawling leading to ecosystem destruction. This systemic misalignment is manifested in Kato’s story. From self to system, the 1800s marked a growing disconnection between humans and their biocultural heritage and from the land and ecosystems.

In 2020, an effort to revive this connection was sparked when Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) installed sculptures of Impalas and other wildlife along the city’s streets. Commendable as these symbolic efforts maybe, they are working below human potential. Mayor of Kampala launches Impala Monument

A more collective effort can recreate the habitat for not only the return of the Impala and other indicator species, but also the return of our human nature, but most importantly, the return of the precolonial harmonious relation between humans, nature, and the land.

Nalubaaga wetland starts its +80-mile flow into the Nile from Kiwatule, Kampala. Greater Kampala isn’t just home to 4+ million people, but also its many hills and valleys source 30+ wetlands and biodiversity facing extinction. It’s thus a critical region for food security, climate adaptation, housing, education, healthcare, biodiversity – hence the need for systems transformation.

Nalubaaga Stream

We aim to shift public opinion on landuse from speculative extraction to stewardship, inspiring landowners to collaborate towards a land commons infrastructure that nurtures the natural, social, cultural, and economic health of Nalubaaga-2030. Regenerative landuse increases productivity, enabling urban livelihoods to evolve in harmony with natural ecosystems.

This is an ambitious project, but we are taking baby steps — we’ll run seven community transformation experiments that progressively build up to a regenerative, commons-enhanced relational local economy by 2030. Below is the first relational experiment.

EXPERIMENT ONE: Improving the Human ⇋ Wetland ⇋ Waste ⇋ Land ⇋ Biodiversity Relation in Nalubaaga wetland

A woman fetching water from the highly polluted Nalubaaga stream.

Task To transform the degraded relations between humans, wetland, waste, and biodiversity in the Nalubaaga. Currently, the urban part of this 80-mile wetland system is choked with urban waste, threatening both human and ecological health - as many households still depend on it as a source of water, food, livelihood, and medicinal herbs for pregnancy and newborns. Yet within this crisis lies the opportunity to rebuild a regenerative relation where waste becomes a resource, community ties strengthen, and both people and nature thrive.

PURPOSE This experiment aims to demonstrate how urban communities can transform environmental challenges into opportunities for regeneration. By reconnecting people with their wetland, we create a model where:

1. Ecological Health: A restored Nalubaaga wetland/stream system provides clean water, flood protection, native medicine, and habitat for biodiversity.

2. Social Wellbeing: Communities shift from seeing Nalubaaga as a dump site to valuing her as a living entity contributing to the vitality & viability of this place.

3. Economic Vitality: Waste transforms from a problem into an economic opportunity, creating local jobs, and enhancing incomes and livelihoods.

4. Cultural Renewal: Traditional knowledge and modern practices combine for holistic regeneration.

5. Future Restoration Process: we are essentialy prototyping a process for other urban ecosystems facing similar challenges to adopt and adapt to their context.

PRODUCTS The project will deliver tangible outcomes that demonstrate regeneration in action:

Physical Infrastructure:

1. A restored wetland with flourishing waterways and biodiversity

2. Small-scale waste processing facilities turning waste into valuable resources

3. Commoned land serving both ecosystem and neighbourhood needs.

Activated Social Systems:

1. Active community networks coordinated around ecosystem care

2. A working alternative currency system rewarding regenerative actions

3. Documented traditional knowledge informing modern conservation.

Economic Engines:

1. Local enterprises built on wetland regeneration

2. Job opportunities in waste transformation and ecological restoration

3. Innovation center supporting ongoing regenerative development

Legal Frameworks:

1. Personhood status for Nalubaaga wetland

2. Community-led governance infrastructure

3. Baseline common guidelines for relating with Nalubaaga Wetland.

PROCESS Phase 1: Foundation Building (Months 1-3)

1. Neighborhood Kinship Dialogues (these are going on now) to build a shared vision - community gatherings are held convening residents to generate collective will to co-create a regenerative future for their place come 2030.

2. Begin wisdom-gathering sessions: Elders share stories of interdependence with ecosystems and collective care, these are shared on the WhatsApp community channel.

3. Land Acquisition Preparation: Careful review of who owns which pieces of land, followed by respectful conversations with landowners about the vision for renewal. Legal teams work to ensure all agreements serve the landowner, community and Nalubaaga’s needs.

Phase 2: Recommoning Land (Months 1-2)

1. Register Nalubaaga Valley Community (NVC): Draft bylaws on regenerative principles and register a collectively governed cooperative with a controlling stake for Nalubaaga wetland. Recommoned land will be collectively stewarded via NVC and ventures run with residents.

2. Draft Land Recommoning Process & Agreements: although some will prefer their land be bought outright, the first priority is inspiring them to stay here and benefit from contributing their land to the vision of renewal of this place, come 2030.

3. Quadratic Funding for Stewardship: enabling landowners to vote on which community initiatives—receive how much funding. This process trains the stewardship muscle of landowners micro-dosing them towards becoming landstewards shaping the wetland's future.

4. Start priority land acquisitions: Securing key pieces of land where waste processing facilities and native species sanctuary can be established. Priority acquisitions on high risk biodiversity loss, high impact areas - like spots where waste currently enters the wetland or where birds still nest. This land becomes a place of renewal, where nature starts healing itself, healing our human nature, culture and human activity.

Once residents, now trespassers. Having lost lots of ground to the fast-approaching urban sprawl, wetland birds ponder their future on land they no longer have right to be.

5. Hold land recommoning ceremonies: As land enters the collective stewardship realm, ceremonies will be organized welcoming her (the land) return into commons. These rituals strengthen the resident’s bond with the wetland, their place while initiating and inspiring the process and journey where 70-80% of land is recommoned and collectively stewarded.

Phase 3: Infrastructure Development (Months 2-3)

1. Feasibility Survey: carryout a short study on the feasibility of establishing small scale waste processing and wetland innovation center here and aacquire licences.

2. Construct waste processing facilities: Building simple but effective waste sorting and processing facilities – community composting for urban gardening, plastic recycling and upcycling, and water protection systems, all designed to be operated by resident team.

3. Nalubaaga Innovation Center: Convert a school that closed due to COVID into a skilling and business incubation centre, developing waste and wetland products and services into regenerative enterprises run by residents supporting them to start small enterprises that support wetland health while creating income.

A 6-year-old tries his pottery skills, his products asking, Why are we still importing all our ceramics? Why isn’t here a professional ceramics incubator?

Phase 4: Program Implementation (Months 3-7)

1. Massive Cleanup & Wetland Restoration: organise a mass cleanup event carefully ridding the urban part of Nalubaaga of the harmful waste and pollutants that is choking her. Remove invasive plants, followed by replanting of native species. Local knowledge guides which plants go where, recreating the natural water filtration system that once existed.

2. Launch Waste-to-Value exchange system: Introduce "Nalubaaga Credits" where residents receive tokens for bringing sorted waste to processing centers. Credits can be used at local shops or exchanged for needed services, making waste valuable instead of menace.

3. Start Rewilding Days: Regular community days where families help plant native species and create wildlife habitats. School Children learn to identify birds, insects, and other wildlife, returning to the area while also improving the aesthetic and ecological value of the wetland, as elders share knowledge of each plant, or other species’ purpose and care.

ONGOING ACTIVITIES

1. Regular Cleanup Events: Bi-weekly community cleanup days become social events, where work is followed by shared meals and storytelling, building stronger neighborhood bonds while steadily improving the environment.

2. Ecological Monitoring: Simple but regular checks of water quality, returning wildlife, and plant health by trained community members. Results are shared through WhatsApp groups and community boards for everyone see the impact of their work.

3. Regeneration Planning: Monthly meetings where community leaders review progress, adjust plans, and ensure activities remain aligned with community needs and environmental health. Each session builds on lessons learned and celebrates successes while planning next steps.

4. Nalubaaga Regeneration Financial System: Co-Design and promote Obuntu Credits and community efforts flow back into regenerative projects. This cycle creates a system where both land and community continuously flourish, ensuring the wetland’s restoration.

5. Totem-Based Human Coordinating: reawaken our totemic system, redirecting its spiritual-coordination power from uniting us by blood relations to uniting us for place thriving by innovating totemic roles around ecological essence of plants, animals, and other entities.

Cattails and papyrus have over 10 uses, from food to crafts, yet none of these are harnessed.

CAPABILITIES NEEDED The project requires a blend of skills and knowledge across multiple domains:

Traditional Knowledge:

1. Deep understanding of local ecological systems, traditional conservation practices, and cultural values that have historically maintained wetland health.

Technical Expertise: 2) Modern waste management techniques, ecological restoration methods, and GIS monitoring systems that can track progress and impact.

Social Skills: 3) Community organizing, conflict resolution, and facilitation abilities to maintain community engagement and resolve competing interests.

Management Capacity: 4) Project planning, financial oversight, legal advisory, partnership management, and systems thinking to ensure all elements work together effectively.

Innovation Abilities: 5) Business development, social enterprise creation, and alternative currency management to build regenerative economies.

WHY SUPPORT NOW? Each dollar catalyzes lasting transformation:

• $10 - provides stream cleaning tools for a family,
• $25 - supports youth ecological care training,
• $50 - contributes to a community composting facility.
• $300 - convenes one neighbourhood activating residents to co-design a regenerative 2030.
• $9,000 - seeds/jumpstarts the waste-to-value exchange system.
• $15,000 - carries out a baseline ecological study to unveil Nalubaaga's ecological potential.
• $20,300 - for a locally developed plastic recycling facility sustaining 20 direct jobs and +200 indirect ones - ridding Nalubaaga of plastic pollution.

Join us in transforming waste into wealth, pollution into possibility, and despair into hope.

Together, we can restore Nalubaaga's essence and potential for future generations.

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." Land stewardship Proverb