For the past seven years we have been combining our research interests in Uganda with community engagement activities to link human activities with water quality and biodiversity. Our research specifically addresses how important freshwater fishes respond to human-induced environmental change. For example, extensive deforestation leads to increased sediments in the water making it difficult or fishes to breathe, find food and mates and ultimately leading to loss of biodiversity. In doing this research in rural Uganda it is impossible to ignore the reliance of local communities on water sources and the fish found in them. In 2010 we initiated a conservation education program in western Uganda for teachers and school-age children to bring together our research and the community.
