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Climate activists have called on government to introduce mandatory climate literacy in school curriculums at all levels in order for the country to produce a future generation that can conserve and preserve the environment better.

The activists noted that teaching climate literacy at all levels would help the future generation connect their local solutions to climate injustice instead of importing solutions from abroad that cannot help solve the problem here.

The activists made the remarks during a climate action in Kampala over the weekend.

Isaac Ssentumbwe, the Team Leader at Climate Justice For Health Communities, said climate literacy will help children grow up making the right choices to conserve the environment and ignoring those that can fuel climate change more.

Hamira Kobusingye, a climate and gender justice activist speaks during the climate action call. (All Photos by Lawrence Mulondo)

“If the right information is taught to the children who are also the future generation, we are likely to have a better planet as these will know what to do to preserve and conserve the environment,” he said.

He said in this literacy, pupils and students should be taught extensively the causes of climate change, how to encounter its effects, and several possible ways to prevent it.

Joshua Omonuk, a climate activist explained how important it is to teach people about climate change throughout their years in school to prevent them from being victims of propaganda and misconceptions about the matter.

He said often, when people face the effects of climate change like floods, drought, and others, they think they did not please their god and are being punished which is not true.

“I got to learn about the concept of climate change when I am grown yet throughout my childhood I would face its effects,” he said.

Hamira Kobusingye a climate and gender justice activist said girls’ education should be emphasized more as a climate change solution, arguing that the effects of climate change affect girls and women 14 times more than it does to boys and men.

limate Activists with placards during a climate action in Kampala.

“Girls are the women tomorrow and they are the back bones of the community. When we educate them they can teach the next generation how to stop but also mitigate the effects of climate change,” she said.

Kobusingye pointed out the need to put a stop on the stigma around educating the girl child adding that this still manifests in some rural settings in the country.

“In many settings, if there is a financial crisis it is girls to be pulled out of school first and married off which exposes them to suffering more effects of climate change.”

Dr. Docus Akurut of Lubaga Hospital explained that due to climate change, there is an increase in drought and famine in different parts of the world, adding that it is affecting girls and women more as major runners of homes. 

“As girls trek long distances in search of water and food, they often risk being raped. For older women, it increases the rate of domestic violence.”

Akurut said due to the increasing air pollution, more cases of diseases like asthma and respiratory infections like pneumonia are registered in different communities.

She said such conditions become a health burden to the country's health sector, as government needs many resources to cater to these patients.

She added that in instances where there is flooding, people risk contracting diseases like malaria and cholera that end up bringing loss of lives or unproductive populations.

Akurut called for more sensitization of communities on climate change and its effects for locals to know how better they can mitigate its challenges.

Reagan Elijah the co-founder at Debt For Climate Uganda indicated that low-income countries like Uganda are contributing less to global emissions but are suffering most of the effects of climate change.

He said these however end up borrowing money to invest in climate resilience programs like irrigation to covert the effects of climate change.

Elijah said the cost of these loans ends up harming the countries' economies and ecosystems and therefore called on the global north countries and financial institutions like IMF and World Bank to cancel all the debts to global south countries so that they can be able to finance the mitigation of the effects of climate change without debts.

The activists also called on development partners to also invest more in green investments like renewable energies and better agricultural practices to reduce emissions into the atmosphere.