Kids, Greenwatch sue Govt for lax climate change role

By Andante Okanya

Four kids have sued Government, “in public interest”, for failing to institute enough measures to control devastating effects of climate change in the country.

They made the move together with the non-governmental environmental advocacy group, Greenwatch.

In the suit filed on September 20 at the High Court in Kampala, Nisi Mbabazi, Jonathan Aruho, Matayo  Natumanya, and Kind David Tandeka are demanding that Government meets its public trust duty and ensure a  habitable environment.

Their concern is that there are mounting scientific warnings that the earth is under the threat of a catastrophic future due to climate heating.

They say the “imminent peril” will affect the present and generations ahead.

Today, climate change – especially global warming – could well be one of the greatest challenges in the history of mankind.

International groups like the UN have made committed calls for action to limit global warming, especially in the third world nations.

The suit was filed on their behalf by city advocate Kenneth Kakuru through Kakuru and Company Advocates.

Government chief legal advisor, the Attorney General is listed as the defendant.

The kids and Greenwatch predict that unless checked, extreme climatic conditions may trigger mass extinction and wipe out civilization.

They argue that since Uganda is a signatory to international treaties such as UN Framework Convention on climate and the Kyoto Protocol, it is mandated to institute powerful measures to control climate change.

They made reference to the Uganda State of Environment Report 2004/2005.

From their reference, they assert that climatic patterns of prolonged drought, floods, hurricanes, and crop losses will escalate into human catastrophes due to the rising earth temperatures caused by a build-up of green house gases.

"Global warming is caused by poverty, economic growth, and population. Dealing with it will be impossible but ignoring it will be worse.”

They allege that Government has been reluctant to act on climate change that has resulted in political unrest over rising food and fuel prices.

The case file has been allocated to Justice Benjamin Kabiito as the AG is yet to respond to the claims in a case whose hearing date is yet to be fixed.

At the Copenhagen global warming summit in 2009, US president Barack Obama urged heads of state to throw their political support behind efforts to reverse the effects of global warming.

He warned that if the international community did not act swiftly to deal with climate change, “we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe.”