The Scientific consensus puts it clear that human activities such as burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas are highly responsible for 80 percent of carbon emissions responsible for climate change, which crisis now poses danger to nature. From the global perspective, climate impacts such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, etc, continue to exacerbate the devastating consequences which pose risks to livelihoods and without a paradigm shift from fossil fuel to clean energy so as to achieve climate neutrality, protecting the most vulnerable will remain a night mare.
Uganda for example, mostly has a tropical climate characterized by stable rainfall patterns. However, the effects of climate change have turned the country’s seasons around making them unpredictable, with shorter or longer rains and harsher droughts especially in the eastern and north-eastern districts of Uganda. In addition, the country experiences extreme weather events which have increased over the last30 years and has led to mudslides/landslides and flooding, particularly for the country’s most hilly and mountainous districts such as Rubanda, Rukiga, Kisoro, Kasese, Bududa and Mbale. In this regard, over the past two decades, an average of 200,000 Ugandans is affected each year by disasters and the most recent was during the onset of May 2023, when mudslides killed 16 people in Kisoro, Rubanda and Rukiga districts. In 2022, floods of water in the rivers of Nabuyonga, Namatala and Nambaale in Mbale region, burst their banks and claimed more than 23 lives and it is also envisaged that the Nyamwamba floods resulted into victims being settled in Muhokya Internally Displaced People’s (IDPs) camp in Kasese district. The above mentioned incidences therefore, have resulted into an alarming rate of climate injustice to the vulnerable frontline communities in these areas.
The increasing heat conditions of the country is also further exacerbating the problem of drought which has resulted in human and livestock deaths more especially in the cattle Corridor areas. For instance, in 2010 and 2011 drought conditions caused an estimated loss and damage value of $1.2 billion, equivalent to 7.5% of Uganda’s 2010 gross domestic product.
However, since 2015, under the Paris Agreement, almost all countries in the world including Uganda committed to; Keep the rise in global average temperatures to ‘well below’ 20 C, and ideally 1.50 C above pre–industrial levels and also align finance flows with ‘a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions among other commitments. The mitigation perspective under this treaty requires countries to commit their emissions reduction targets in their ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDCs) which cover actions up to 2030. To this effect, Uganda updated its NDC with an emissions reduction target of 24.7 percent below the Business As Usual (BAU) trajectory in 2030 and under the transport mitigation by sub-sector for example, it emphasizes on the alternative fuel switch and this measure intends to improve fuel standards and efficiency in the country where by cleaner fuels will be promoted. This measure has potential to reduce emissions by approximately 0.54 MtCO2e by 2030. To this effect, the government has started manufacturing/assembling buses through Kiira Motors Corporation which use batteries instead of petrol or diesel and a sample of buses (Tondeka Bus Service) is already being tested on some routes of Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area.
Although Uganda is targeting a low carbon development pathway, there is also an ongoing development in oil and gas sector which is thought to transform Uganda to middle income status. However, the oil and gas sector will contribute to the increased Global House Gas emissions which will jeopardize the country’s efforts to contribute to the quick achievement of the Paris Agreement and this therefore calls for accelerating the deployment of clean, sustainable, efficient and 100 percent renewable energy solutions in all sectors that use energy in order to contribute to climate neutrality and hence climate justice. The
Writer is a Climate Change & Energy activist @Bio Vision Africa
