WWF and Nile Breweries Sign off Partnership for Water Conservation

Posted on 26 August 2019

Last week, Nile Breweries, through its parent company ABInBev symbolically handed over a dummy chaque worth $138,000 (about UGX 505 Million) towards the conservation of River Rwizi located in Mbarara.

The event was presided over by the Director of Water Resources Management in the Ministry of Water and Environment Dr Callist Tindimugaya, the Chairperson of the WWF Uganda Advisory Board, Amb Philip Idro who represented the Country Director, Staff from WWF and Nile Breweries and the media.

Speaking at the event, Dr Callist thanked Nile Breweries and their mother Company ABInBev for considering it critical to invest in water conservation.

“Am happy that Nile Breweries is now investing in water conservation. This will not only guarantee Uganda a future but also ensure business continuity for the beer brewery”, he said adding that the rest of the private sector should make it their business to invest in conservation as a business sustainability strategy.
The Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Nile Breweries, Onapito Ekomoloit, on his part emphasized that they were not only committed to investing in conservation but also cutting on the amount of water they use to process a litre of beer.

“We are investing in smart technologies that will enable us to substantially reduce the amount of water we use in the process but also recycle the used water. As a company, we shall continue to work with conservation players to guarantee the sustainability of the country’s natural resources while safeguarding our business interests”, he stressed.

The River Rwizi project dubbed “Multi-stakeholder partnerships for water stewardship and community livelihoods in the Rwizi catchment” is being implemented by The Ministry of Water and Environment through its Directorate of Water Resources Management (DWRM) & Victoria Water Management Zone (VWMZ) over seen by WWF in Uganda.
According to WWF Uganda’s Manager of Communications, Partnerships and Fundraising Ms Rita Samanya Kyategeka, the project aims at developing collective stakeholder driven approaches and implementing site catchment-based interventions to address water risks to enable improved community livelihoods and water quality and quantity.

“Additionally, getting the Private sector such as a beer brewery to invest in conservation is a win for us. We want to use this to urge other private players to come on board, but also deliver on this funding exceptionally so that the company can trust us with more funding for the cause”, she said.

On Friday, the project was officially launched in Mbarara in the presence of all technical and political players from the over 11 districts that River Rwizi covers. Work on ground has started as earlier reported on in our Weekly editions.