‘Uganda faces more environmental challenges than climate change’

Ms Almas Jiwani is the President of the Canadian National Committee for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM Canada). Sunday Monitor’s Isaac Khisa spoke to her on issues surrounding climate change and women. We bring you excerpts:-

According to UN report that was released a few weeks ago, many countries did not achieve the pledges made in Copenhagen of reducing carbon emission. Now with the Cancun conference, do we expect a reverse trend?

The United Nations report found that the pledges made under the non-binding agreements in Copenhagen last year would provide only 60 per cent of the emissions cuts necessary to ensure that the fore-casted global temperatures do not increase over 2 degrees Celsius.

We have to remember that climate change is a long-term phenomenon and we have to keep working on it with world leaders to achieve optimal greenhouse reduction targets that may vary based on geographical, economic and political factors.

The UN report highlights the importance of global cooperation and I believe that the Cancun conference will provide a platform to solidify the agreements made in Copenhagen and make progress in discussions of funding for developing and developed nations towards mitigating climate change.

For example, draft decisions on continued, strengthened support to developing countries efforts in climate change adaptation and mitigation will be presented in a couple of days, which demonstrates the cooperative work is happening now.

What is the ClimDev-Africa Initiative?
The lack of appropriate information on climate change is a major obstacle to addressing the challenges of global warming in Africa. In order to address this problem, the Climate for Development in Africa Initiative (ClimDev-Africa) was created by the African Development Bank, the Commission of the African Union, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. It involves three components; to build the capacity of African climate institutions to create and distribute useful climate information to policy-makers, policy support organizations, and the general African population. To increase the capacity of policy-makers to mainstream climate change into development plans. To implement adaptation programs and projects in order to learn lessons and define good climate change adaptation practices.

The ClimDev Africa Special Fund will specifically finance ClimDev-Africa activities, which will benefit rural communities with climate sensitive livelihoods, food insecure communities, communities vulnerable to malaria and other climate sensitive diseases, communities dependent on uncertain water and other natural resources, communities at risk of disasters, and communities with poor energy access.

What is your role in countering these challenges posed by climate change and what is the importance of conferences such as the one in Cancun?
Our role is best prompted through initiating education, public debate and participating in the international discourse on global warming. I would like to quote His Highness, The Aga Khan IV who once stated that “we live today in what has been called the knowledge society. But even as our knowledge advances at lightning speed, we also become more vulnerable to gaps in that knowledge.”

Thus, as a humanitarian, I would submit that we should strive to fill this “vulnerable gap “ by educating ourselves, stakeholders, academics, entrepreneurs, political leaders, and civilians to convince them that global warming is a significant challenge for our survival as human beings and for our future.

Humanity’s role in the environment, sustainability and climate change discourse is to provide a sounding board for ideas, to be a facilitator for innovative solutions to climate change and, most importantly, to act as a bridge that attempts to unite and to bring together all players from civil society, government, and the corporate sectors to address the gaps in our knowledge and current approach to climate change.

How is Climate Change impacting East Africa and Uganda, specifically?
The East African Community has identified several adverse impacts of climate change that can already be observed. These include coastal infrastructure destruction, the submergence of some small islands in the Indian ocean, the intrusion of sea water into fresh water wells, and beach erosion, all caused by rising sea levels.

It is further anticipated that East Africa will experience changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. Uganda’s State of the Environment report notes that the majority of the country’s farmers who practice rain-fed agriculture will find it difficult to grow crops due to declining, unreliable rainfall.

While more rain could lead to enhanced crop yields, with increased rain also comes the potential for flooding which will be detrimental to crops. Due to East Africa’s heavy dependence on rain-fed agriculture, the region will be highly vulnerable to these shifting precipitation patterns.
Beyond climate change, however, Uganda also faces other environmental challenges, including declining soil fertility, deforestation, pasture degradation, decreasing fish stocks, and water pollution caused by the discharge from industries and domestic waste as revealed by a United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) report on Climate Change and Uganda.

What action is being taken right now to try and mitigate these effects of changing weather patterns in East Africa?
Actually, there is much exciting activity occurring in East Africa. The heads of state of the five East African Community countries held a summit earlier this month to discuss food security and climate change, where they presented on the current national situations on food security and climate change and their impacts.

Many leaders of East African countries have already been preparing and implementing projects and programs to deal with climate change that focus on adaptation and mitigation activities. Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have created the National Adaptation Programme of Actions (NAPAs) which identify urgent and priority projects that will enhance adaptation capacities of these countries to climate change.
All of these East African states are engaged in identifying potential mitigation options that attempt to spur economic growth while also helping to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The fruits of these actions are culminating in innovative green projects including clean power generation and methane recovery from waste management to prevent damage from changing weather systems.

What is happening specifically in Uganda right now to help adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation?
In 2008, the government of Uganda formed the Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change and by 2009 this forum established a timeline of priorities and expected outcomes to be adopted by its members in order to respond to the environmental, social, and economic aspects of climate change.

Its goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to organise a national awareness campaign, to promote regional and international cooperation on climate change, and to ensure that Uganda has a strong voice and presence at international climate change forums.

At the same time, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is currently trying to work with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in order to develop adaptation measures that complement the priorities identified in Uganda’s NAPA.
The UNDP and GEF are also supporting the government on Climate Change Enabling Activities, which involve identifying technology transfer barriers and greenhouse gas inventory data gaps, and raising the level of awareness on climate change issues in Uganda.

Finally, a partnership between the UNDP and the United Nations Environment Programme is also assisting Uganda to mainstream environment into national planning strategies. These are just some of the activities currently happening in Uganda to assist in mitigating and adapting to climate change.