Mount Elgon landslides a result of climate change

Daily Monitor on Wednesday reported that a massive landslide that swept the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda on Monday night killed at least 80 people, with 350 missing and feared dead. The landslide erased three villages of Kubehwo, Namakansa and Nametsi located in Bukalasi sub-county in Bududa District. As earlier predicted, climate change will continue to leave severe damages on communities least prepared to adapt.

The cycle of the problem is like this; when thermal electric power generators, motor vehicle engines in USA, Canada or coal power plants in China or Europe are switched on, each has the effect of changing the atmospheric composition hence the global temperature and ocean currents that drive the earth’s planetary climate system. Their effects link to other parts of the world. In Uganda for instance, landslides wipe out families in Bududa, Kapchorwa and Kabarole.

Crops in Nakasongola fail due to drought, malaria spreading mosquitoes invade Kigezi highlands, crops in northern Uganda get under flood water, and people die of hunger in Karamoja as stocks die due to thirst. Pests and disease wipe out crop plantations and domestic animals, glaciers on Mt Rwenzori begin to recede; Ankole region becomes food insecure as farmers can no longer predict when it is appropriate to begin planting and Lake Victoria level begins to drop. Polar ice sheets collapse and melt, small island states and coastal towns get permanently submerged by ocean water.

Last year, world leaders from about 192 countries met to sign a deal to tackle climate change in Copenhagen. They were supposed to achieve at least two major objectives; agree on deep cuts on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions being pumped into the atmosphere by each country and agree on a package to rescue the world’s poor from sinking and adapt to the hostile climatic and other events over the coming years. To the surprise of many, no comprehensive deal came out, but one may ask why.

First and foremost, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide which is necessary to save the world would entail those countries with a big carbon footprint to reduce the amount of thermal electricity produced; this would effectively reduce the capacity of their powerhouse that drive their economies to produce goods and services. This decreased output of the power houses would mean less earning and decreased welfare which would seriously hurt their economic prosperity, which few heads of government would opt for. It is politically dangerous.

Secondly, most voters in the industrialised rich world would like to maintain a luxurious carbon intensive lifestyle. A leader who signs a pact that will see them less well off will do it at his own peril. Some of the multinational corporations emitting carbon dioxide may be the ones that had the biggest stake in their political campaigns.

Thirdly, the two constituencies of the poor (in which bracket Uganda falls) and future generations that are most vulnerable have got a weak political voice. The rich and industrialised nations have their nationals properly fortified and well cautioned against the impacts of climate change. They have the political will to help their citizens, financial and technical capacity to properly cope with the impacts of climate change.
Everything goes back to the question of disaster preparedness. How prepared are we when these disasters strike? What about when our major highways get blocked by landslides or major bridges get swept away. Can Entebbe International Airport singly receive the disaster relief? Have we learned any lesson from the ill prepared Haiti when it was struck by a strong earthquake?

Mr Mugyenyi is a member of the Daily Monitor Panel of Experts
mbjcyril@yahoo.com