Agric. & Environment
CSOs push for coding of climate change mitigation budgets to ease traceability
Officials from the meteorological department in the Ministry of Water and Environment blamed the situation on a buildup of El Nino, which is characterised by heavy rainfall and floods as well as droughts and heat, expected this year.
ACODE team engages farming communities in Kiboga District on solar energy and climate change. (Credit: Prossy Nandudu)
By: Prossy Nandudu, Journalist @New Vision
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Between June and September this year, Uganda experienced a prolonged dry spell across the country, resulting in human and livestock deaths due to especially lack of food and the drying up of water sources.
Karamoja was hardest-hit, having started experiencing dry spells in May. Many people
The dry spell also affected commercial crops like coffee. For instance, the coffee trees that were at the flowering stage dried up, and those that were nearing harvesting did not have enough berries.
Officials from the meteorological department in the Ministry of Water and Environment blamed the situation on a buildup of El Nino, which is characterised by heavy rainfall and floods as well as droughts and heat, expected this year.
Civil society organisations are now calling for funding aimed at helping masses cope with the changing weather.
Once this budget is coded, they say, it will make it easier to trace where the money is when needed, the targetted activities and what is needed to respond to emergencies associated with climate change.
“The challenge we have had widely in climate change and money that goes to environment conservation is that it is very difficult to follow this money later on what it financed. And because issues of climate change and environment are cross-cutting, they get lost,” said Onesmus Mugyenyi, the deputy executive director and programme manager of the Environment and Natural Resources Governance Programme at Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE).
Briefing reporters this week in Kampala, Mugyenyi said that when climate change funds are coded, it will be easy to know how much was allocated in the budget, for what mitigation measures, where they were implemented, and what is the status.
Once this budget is coded, they say, it will make it easier to trace where the money is when needed, the targetted activities and what is needed to respond to emergencies associated with climate change.
“The challenge we have had widely in climate change and money that goes to environment conservation is that it is very difficult to follow this money later on what it financed. And because issues of climate change and environment are cross-cutting, they get lost,” said Onesmus Mugyenyi, the deputy executive director and programme manager of the Environment and Natural Resources Governance Programme at Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE).
Briefing reporters this week in Kampala, Mugyenyi said that when climate change funds are coded, it will be easy to know how much was allocated in the budget, for what mitigation measures, where they were implemented, and what is the status.
“Such indicators would enable the Government to track investments, unlock global climate funding, identify beneficiaries including women, youth and smallholder farmers and assess impacts on agricultural productivity, value addition, employment, incomes and how well a community is shielded from climate-induced crop failures and post-harvest losses,” he said.
The call should be accompanied with the implementation of Climate Change Budget Tagging (CCBT) across MDAs and local governments, said Dr Anthony Mugere Buyinza, a research fellow at ACODE.
“The inadequate use of designated climate budget codes, including 000089 (Mitigation) and 000090 (Adaptation), can undermine accurate tracking and reporting of public expenditure on climate adaptation and mitigation,” he said.
Buyinza said strengthening climate budget tagging will improve transparency, accountability and the Government’s ability to demonstrate the scale and impact of climate-related investments such as solar energy.
He said solar energy can drive agricultural transformation because it enables mechanization, value addition, and climate resilient agricultural practices among others.
Solar irrigation powers crops for the dry season; solar dryers reduce food loss and wastage as it prolongs the shelf life of foods, same to milling, cold storage, among others; hence the need for proper budgeting of climate change to save Uganda’s agriculture.
The call should be accompanied with the implementation of Climate Change Budget Tagging (CCBT) across MDAs and local governments, said Dr Anthony Mugere Buyinza, a research fellow at ACODE.
“The inadequate use of designated climate budget codes, including 000089 (Mitigation) and 000090 (Adaptation), can undermine accurate tracking and reporting of public expenditure on climate adaptation and mitigation,” he said.
Buyinza said strengthening climate budget tagging will improve transparency, accountability and the Government’s ability to demonstrate the scale and impact of climate-related investments such as solar energy.
He said solar energy can drive agricultural transformation because it enables mechanization, value addition, and climate resilient agricultural practices among others.
Solar irrigation powers crops for the dry season; solar dryers reduce food loss and wastage as it prolongs the shelf life of foods, same to milling, cold storage, among others; hence the need for proper budgeting of climate change to save Uganda’s agriculture.