Melting Snow on Mount Rwenzori worries Uganda delegation at Climate Conference

MARRAKESH- As countries meet in Marrakesh, Morocco to discuss the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the Ugandan delegation has expressed concern over the global rise in temperature which has resulted into the melting of snow on top of Mount Rwenzori.

 Also known as mountains of the Moon, the Rwenzori Mountains are located at the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo border in Western Uganda and host one of Uganda’s tourist attractions, the Rwenzori National Park.

 In an interview with the Daily monitor,  Prof John B. Kaddu, the team leader of the adaptation, loss and damage thematic group of  Uganda’s delegation said carbon emissions from other parts of the world are behind the rise in temperate, now responsible for the glacier retreat on top of Mount Rwenzori.

 “The melting of snow emerges from the rising temperatures which date back from many centuries of gases from industries. Think about the coal, think about the big industries in Birmingham which you heard about in history for many years,” Prof Kaddu said.

 Uganda’s briefing paper at the 22nd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) currently on-going, indicates that the snow has melted from 7.5 kilometres in the year 1905 to 1.5 in 2006.

 According to the same document, temperature change from the median in the next coming 50 years is projected at +2 to +3 degrees Celsius across the country. 

 As a result of increased emissions, Prof Kaddu said something like a blanket forms up in the atmosphere (greenhouse gases) causing the rise in temperature.  Equating the process to heat generated by using a blanket on a cold night, Pof Kaddu said the mixture of   gases have led to the earth warming up.

According to former lecturer at the Zoology department of Makerere University, the continued melting of snow on top of Mountain Rwenzori is likely to impact on the livelihoods negatively.

 The COP22 President and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco, Mr Salaheddine Mezouar, while addressing a Press Conference at the weekend said the Marrakesh conference  is aimed implementing of the Paris Climate Agreement.

 It seeks to limit global warming well below 2°C and as close to 1.5°C as possible to prevent dangerous climate tipping points, beyond which the world may lose the ability to control the outcome.

 

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So far, about 105 countries including Uganda have ratified the Paris Agreement which entered into force on November 4.