Gov't to develop climate change law

By Innocent Anguyo, Joanita Tushabe and Gerald Tenywa

CHEBET Maikut, the head of the Climate Change Department in the Ministry of Water and Environment has urged government to develop a legal instrument to guide national response to climate variability.

Apart from guiding national efforts to mitigate and adapt to impact of climate change, Maikut said such a law should also spell out punitive measures to be used against Ugandans engaged in activities that fuel climate variability.

Maikut was speaking at the first roundtable discussion on climate resilience in East Africa that took place at Makerere University recently, as part of a series dedicated to examining the issues of climate change, ahead of the Paris 2015 climate conference (COP21).

Held under the theme, "Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods", the first roundtable discussion provided a platform for renowned academics, researchers, representatives of the civil society, local authorities, students and activists to debate the impact of and responses to climate change in East Africa.

The French Ambassador to Uganda Sophie Makane said, ahead of COP21, round table meetings were essential in “assembling different stake-holders to come up with local solutions to impacts of climate change in their communities”, as the world heightens efforts to create awareness about the impacts of climate variability.

Makame also warned that if swift efforts were not made to reverse the effects of climate change, glaciers on the Mount Rwenzori could disappear by 2020 and irregular rain patterns could fuel food insecurity in coming years.

African leaders commit making Paris 2015 Climate Conference count

However the good news is that, African leaders, Makame noted last year made a commitment during the Elysee summit in Paris to reach a universal and binding agreement on the fight against climate change, limiting global warming to less than 2°C.

Dr Festus Bagoora, a resource specialist at National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has encouraged active debate by all stakeholders on the impacts of climate change in East Africa so that the interest of the wider public can be captured, in the run up to Conference of Paris.

Need to question status-quo

Dr Bagoora who will be among the officials negotiating on the behalf of Uganda at the COP21 expects the issue of the need to change the framework for funding for National Adaptation Projects Action projects to be tabled.

The 2007 initiative drawn up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was created to help the peoples living within least developed nations to address the harsh impacts of climate change, but its merits have been overshadowed by arguments of evasion of responsibility by developed nations.

“The practice of funding for climate change programs has been manipulated by developed donor nations which claim the finances are inclusive of the total aid to least developed nations” Bagoora argued.

He added that the aim of COP21 is to correct such loop-holes and create a binding agreement among all the countries, in light of making a working documents respected by all signatories.

NAPA projects aim to train rural peoples in sustainable consumption of the natural resources around them whilst withstanding the impacts of climate change. These include corrective mitigating measures like replanting trees after they have been cleared and adaptive measures such as water harvesting methods.

Poor nations least contributors to global warming

While chairing the first East African round table meeting at Makerere, Dr Bagoora said climate change is real, and that although poor countries like Uganda least contribute to a warming climate, they are the most vulnerable.

David Williamson, a senior scientist at the Institute of Research for Development, a global research body, pointed out that although globally temperatures were increasing slowly “climate change’s impacts were dramatic and more pronounced in the tropics”, henceforth the need to refocus responses to such hardest hit areas.

Julius Lejju, an Associate Professor at Mbarara University of Science and Technology argued that “high temperatures had in the past years decreased the snow caps on Rwenzori Mountain, caused heavy flooding, landslides as well as droughts.” 

New cases of Malaria in Kigezi attributed to global warming

Lejju attributed the recent increase in mosquito swarms in areas initially devoid of the Malaria spreading insects in areas like Kabale to a surging temperature, calling for an immediate response to climate change through increment in awareness on impact of the shift, planting of more trees and reduction of deforestation.

Climate variability affecting fisheries

Dr Jackson Efitre, a lecturer in the Makerere University Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences said Climate variability has teamed up with multiple stressor factors such as deforestation; overexploitation; pollution; habitat degradation and introduction of invasive species to threaten the fish industry in Uganda.

Noting that efforts to address the impacts of climate variability and Change in Uganda has been concentrated on crops livestock and forestry, Efitre said it was high time government took the bold step to bring aquatic ecosystems and fisheries fully on board in its responses.

“In Uganda, fisheries contribute to 2.5% to national budget and 12.5% to agricultural GDP. It employs 1.2million people, generates over $100m in exports and provides about 50% of dietary proteins of Ugandans,” Efitre said, making a case for increased emphasis on Fisheries in responding to impacts of climate shift.

Government swings into action

Muhammad Semambo, a climate change officer in the Ministry of Water and Environment said vulnerability of Uganda to climate change is high because the country relies on climate dependent resources such as rain-fed agriculture.

Semambo nevertheless noted that government had developed mechanisms to address the impact of climate change. He said mitigation and adaptation mechanism will be incorporated into the new National Development Plan that is being developed.

Government recebtly issued a set of guidelines that requires all districts and sectors to incorporate climate change impact mitigation and adaptation in their plans and budgets, as part of plans to increase effectiveness of intervention.

The guidelines will also require every government institution to allocate funds for climate change activities in their budgets and programmes.

The procedures are meant to operationalize the national policy on climate change and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to which Uganda is signatory.

Local solutions for local problems

Casim Lolo, a lecturer at MUST said limited adaptive capacity of developing countries such as Uganda makes them vulnerable to climate-induced hazards.

He called for the formulation of grassroots-based solutions to impacts of climate change, saying “indigenous communities world over have had a well-developed indigenous knowledge system for managing issues affecting their livelihoods in cost-effective and sustainable manner since time immemorial.

Highlighting on how to mitigate global warming, Musa Muwanga, the Chief Executive Officer of National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda said organic agriculture can provide management practices that can help farmers improve their adaptation strategies.

He identified such adaptation strategies as strengthening of agro-ecosystems, diversifying crop and livestock production, and building farmers’ knowledge base to best prevent and confront changes in climate.

The next two roundtables sessions in Uganda, scheduled for October 02 and November 07, will tackle resilience mechanisms of green" cities, and the protection and conservation of biodiversity.