UGANDA: 2015 AND BEYOND

 By Gerald Tenywa

Job vacancy: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Earth Limited. The suitable candidate will have to demonstrate abilities to secure the future of humanity.

The CEO will have to implement measures that address the global challenges that threaten the future of humanity. These include poverty, climate change and an economic meltdown. The successful candidate will begin work in 2015 when the curtain will fall down ending 15 years of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The CEO will usher in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being debated across the world to replace MDGs, a set eight global development targets.

Politicians in the global north and global south both pay lip service to development. In light of this, the CEO will also have to advise Uganda, which has discovered oil and is seeking to become a medium income country by 2040. The CEO is required to look beyond the face value portrayed by Government officials and suggest ways that will improve the quality of life of Ugandans.

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Picture: River Rwizi in Mbarara drying up due to enviromental degradation and climate change.

The world does not have a CEO, but the global leaders from different parts of the world will be meeting in 2015 to adopt SDGs to drive the world into a sustainable future. So far, reports by reputable institutions indicate that the world has derailed from the path to sustainable development and that drastic measures should be taken to ensure that SDGs do not remain slogans at global events.

What should be the priority for Uganda’s development agenda beyond 2015?  

Sustainable charcoal production and efficient use needed

Green energy or renewable energy, according to Robert Ddamulira, the regional coordinator for energy at the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) should replace fossil fuels if the world is to shift to a sustainable economy. “We need to replace the fossil energy powered economies with renewable energy,” says Ddamulira, adding that energy drives economic growth.

Given that Uganda is still a developing country, biomass (charcoal and firewood) is going to remain the main source of energy for some time, according to Ddamulira.

Currently, the technology used to produce charcoal recovers only 10% of the wood, according to Ddamulira. In addition to this wastage, only 8.7% of Ugandans use improved cooking stoves with the potential to reduce energy wastage by 60%, according to Ddamulira.

Sustainable use of land

Stephen Muwaya, Coordinator for sustainable land management, Ministry of Agriculture says land remains a critical asset for most Ugandans. “People depend on land for production and its sustainable use is important,” he says, adding that Government policies on land use and soils should be implemented without delay.

This also goes with water and both resources are needed to ensure food security, energy security, reduce climate change and re-vegetation also promotes bio-diversity conservation.

Water conservation

According to the 2009 review report by the Ministry of Water and Environment, the per capita water availability will drop to 896 cubic meters per year, below the international threshold of 1,000 cubic meters in 2035. Water stress will hit Uganda even earlier, by the year 2020. The available water will have dropped to 1,480 cubic metres per person, per year, by then, down from the current 2,000 cubic meters.

According to Dr. Callist Tindimugaya, a commissioner in the ministry of water and environment, this means that food and hydro-electric power production is increasingly coming at a big cost.

Climate Change:

According to Kimbowa, climate change is an emerging challenge that has far reaching implications on many aspects of life including health, education, agriculture and security. Climate change, according to Kimbowa should be considered as a priority under SDGs. But Kyoto Protocol, which is the only legally binding agreement that obliges the industrialised countries to cut their emissions by 5.2% of the 1990 levels, is being undermined by the rich developed countries.

As a result, according to Kimbowa, climate change is threatening to reverse many years of development in Uganda with successive disasters of floods and landslides. Government needs policies to support the resilience against Climate Change.

More investment in agriculture

The negative environmental implications including climate change are eroding the ability of people to fend for themselves. “It is sad that some farmers cannot even feed themselves,” says Betty Tigawalana, a resident of Nalimawa in Kamuli district, adding that such farmers are losing their dignity by relying on relief supplies to survive.

She added, “We need good seed and skills in productive approaches that conserve soil fertility and water in the soil.”  

According to a World Bank report, about 62% of Ugandans depend on agriculture, which includes cash crops, livestock, forestry and fishing. But the sector’s real growth has been falling since 2000/2001 and was expected to increase to 2% in 2010. The report notes that low growth in agriculture relative to population growth will increase the number of the poor, and hamper the possibility of achieving MDGs

Improved quality through education and health care

What the country needs is also to improve the quality of the services such as education, health, according to Eugene Muramira, the deputy executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission. “Who will appreciate and participate in green growth? It is only a population with education and access to health care that will appreciate value in green growth.” 

Muramira says Uganda is becoming a regional hub when it comes to education and that the county should explore other areas such as health, banking, insurance that could provide services to Ugandans and the neighbouring countries such as Sudan and DR Congo.

Inequalities

While Uganda has reduced extreme poverty levels by half in the last two decades (from 56.4 per cent in 1992–1993 to 24.5 per cent in 2009–2010-UN report), the gap between the poor and the rich is widening every year. Also some parts of the country such as eastern, northern and north-eastern Uganda are becoming poorer. Others are areas around protected areas such as national parks and lakes.

Population dynamics

According to a recent report by UN Environment Programme (the Africa Outlook report), Uganda’s population growth rate was higher than the economic growth, which undermines development efforts aimed at improving livelihood and sustainable use of the environment.

At the same time most of the over populated areas are around ecologically fragile areas such as Mt. Elgon and Rwenzori, which are described as water towers that feed lakes Victoria, Kyoga and River Nile.

The catchment of Lake Victoria has the highest global population growth rate every year estimated at 7% as opposed to the national average of 3.2%, according to a report by UNEP.  In absence of alternative livelihood opportunities and strategic management of the environment, this rapid population growth and urbanisation has resulted into environmental degradation.

Governance

 Governance relating to the way how decisions are taken and resources allocated will help to avoid what is referred to as the resource curse by spreading the benefits from natural resources such as oil, fisheries and forestry. It will help in resolving emerging conflicts over water and climate change.

As Uganda shifts from the least developed world to a middle income economy, the citizens should be at the centre. This will not only help to create awareness but also mobilisation to ensure easy implementation of SDGs. It is only active citizens and effective institutions that will save the earth. Are you playing your part?