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The increasing climatic changes are pushing Uganda deeper into research for solutions. Usually, the month of December marks the start of the dry season, 2023 was different as it was characterised by floods and landslides resulting from heavy rains. This unusual weather pattern is one of the effects of climate change – characterised by extreme weather conditions.

According to Bob Natifu, the Assistant Commissioner of the Climate Change Department in the Ministry of Water and Environment, the effects of climate change in Uganda are increasingly becoming severe, affecting both people and environment.

“Climate change has led to extreme weather effects such as unpredictable, prolonged drought and rainfall. Due to climate change the seasons have changed, with the rainy season becoming more variable in length and droughts more pervasive,” he says.

As “predicted” by the Uganda Meteorological Authority, mountainous areas such as Bududa, Bundibugyo, and Kisoro experienced landslides that led to displacement of people and in some instances deaths. The low-lying areas, especially in urban areas such as Kampala and Wakiso districts were hit by floods.

Although climate change has been as a result of greenhouse gas emissions from the developed countries, developing countries such as Uganda have been at the receiving end of the negative effects. Farmers have suffered crop losses due to change in seasons while floods and landslides have claimed several lives and displaced thousands.

The worst landslide last year was in the district of Kasese where 15 people were liked in Kasika village, Rukoki sub-county.

It is against this background that experts at the global, regional, and national levels are investing in climate change mitigation, adaption and productivity in a bid to reverse the effects of climate change.

In the year 2015, Uganda communicated her updated Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was later adopted as her Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) on ratification of the Paris Agreement in 2016: and through which Uganda committed to reducing her national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 22% in 2030 compared to the Business-As-Usual.

Uganda’s NDC aims to build climate resilience and promote a low-carbon development path. Over the years, the country has taken great strides towards her NDC ambitions including establishment of a NDC Partnership Plan to advance the timeline for some NDC actions and a costed NDC Implementation Plan that guides the implementation of the spelt-out mitigation and adaptations actions. Furthermore, Uganda has updated her GHG emissions reduction ambition to 24.7 %, in 2030 compared to Business-As-Usual, reflected in Uganda’s Updated NDC 2022.

To implement such an ambitious agenda, Uganda is using its own resources, but also counting on the external support from international initiatives to put into practice the variety of planned activities and work with stakeholders. One such initiative is the NDC Action Project.

According to Natifu, the NDC Action facilitates the implementation of climate-resilient and low-carbon development aligned with national and global goals and it supports efforts by 10 partner countries including Uganda, to translate NDCs into strategies and actions ready for financing and implementation.

The project “builds on three core principles: country ownership, balanced focus between adaptation and mitigation, and integration with national development and climate change priorities. The NDC Action Project is coordinated by the United Nations Environment Program’s Economy Division and implemented with the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC) providing technical and expert support. UNEP-CCC directly works with the Climate Change Adaptation Innovation (CHAI), a Ugandan Think Thank which serves as the National Technical Institution,” he says.

Professor John Kaddu, the technical lead of the National Technical Institution in Uganda said that is charged to provide technical and capacity building support in three priority sectors, says climate Smart Agriculture incorporates three specific goals, which are: sustainably increasing productivity and income, increasing adaptation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions below business as usual.

“The implementation of the NDC Action project is in line with the primary focuses of COP-28. We are focusing on climate-friendly technologies and innovations, namely, efficient solar irrigation systems, Solar dryers, solar cooking, and agroforestry, plus inclusion of women and engagement of frontline communities,” he says.