As the world marks 52 years of commemorating the World Environment Day since its inception in the Stockholm Conference in Sweden in 1972, it is important to interrogate the theme of this year’s celebration – “our land our future”. In many African societies – including in Uganda- land is not only a site of production but carries several other connotations including cultural, religious, political and historical identities.

It is on land where people bury the dead and keep family and clan ties, it is on land where people grow foods that are culturally specific to their diets, it is on land where societies define their boundaries and keep their identities as a people, it is on land where people erect structures of worship and construct historical memories about the past generation.

Land has therefore held societies together, weaving layers of generations upon generations, making land a thing of past, present and future relevance. Keeping land therefore means keeping up with the past, with the present and with the future.