Climate Change experts from across the globe will gather for a scientific conference from November 6^th to 27^th 2022.

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties referred to (COP) 27 will bring together to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt a number of exoerts to increase ambition and implement existing goals to strengthen commitments to tackle the global challenge of climate change.

Taking Climate action is goal 13 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to combat climate change and its impacts.

To address these challenges, countries could adopt the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.

Background

 One of the action points is for countries take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts aiming at strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related disasters while integrating climate change measures into policies and planning as well as building knowledge and capacity to meet climate change adaptation measures and practice.

As it still stands the goal is that by 2030 there ought to be strengthened resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.

Arguably, States are moving towards the goal and others are steps behind due to financial gaps and other implementation impediments including the Covid 19 pandemic and its consequent lockdown tendencies.

Albeit, 2019 was the second warmest year on record and the end of the warmest decade then- running from 2010-2019 ever recorded carbon dioxide level. In the same year, other greenhouse gasses rose to higher levels in the atmosphere.

Uganda suffers changing weather patterns, drop in water levels, increased frequency of extreme weather both floods and drought, which have dealt negatively on farming systems with crops failing, rotting of root crops and vagaries in the agriculture sector including infestation of pests and diseases.

Other challenges include death of infant and adult livestock as well as fish kills have been recorded.

Challenges faced and solutions

People have been displaced and some have died due to floods and landslides in the Rwenzori and Elgon mountainous districts of Kasese and Bududa respectively

Uganda set her Nationally Determined Contribution for climate action to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change impacts are Agriculture and livestock, forestry, infrastructure with emphasis on human settlement, social infrastructure, transport, water, energy and health.

Reflecting on the 2022 World Food Day theme of “leave no one behind, better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life” by FAO points to the integration and coherence of the SDGs 1,2,3,5,12 and of all these taking climate action stands as the tread that stitches all the SDGs for the future we want.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Uganda has implored the Government to ban the use of hand hoes in the country, for increased food production

According to FAO director Mr Antonio Querido with enough food production, Uganda has the capacity of becoming a food basket for not only East Africa, but also the African continent.

This possible if the climate action to avail water during prolonged dry spells is taken. It is possible if early maturing crops are planted before the floods disrupt the soils and wash away the food.

Statistical data

Statistics show that 89% of the population in Uganda is food insecure not because they do not grow food, they lack good post-harvest technologies to store food to the next harvest, Ugandans have fresh produce that is seldom processed and stored. Majority of the population has normal access to food from farm to the market.

From a UNICEF Uganda- Karamoja response report, 2020, 142,378 children aged 6-59 months have been screened for malnutrition in 6 out of 9 districts in Karamoja region.

Approximately, 91,600 children in Northern Eastern Uganda, according to the parliamentary alliance report are at risk of death unless action is taken to address the hunger situation in the region.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing contributes 24% of the gross domestic product and employs majority of the population.

Albeit, 12% of the total population in the country is food insecure especially in the north eastern region of Karamoja. This is attributed to poor rainfall performance characterized by long dry spells. Do we assume the rest of Uganda is leaving the 12% behind?

Taking climate action through water harvesting and irrigation in Karamoja will realize the country moving together without leaving any one behind.

Taking climate action by addressing the water challenge lies the equation of leaving no one behind. It is the harvesting water, drilling underground wells for irrigation and watering livestock that will fulfil Government of Uganda’s vision 2040 and address the SDG 2 on zero hunger.

Uganda is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and its populations’ life and wellbeing rely on the climate.

Facing periods of flood and periods of drought, Uganda faces two types of climacteric disturbances which are natural and human induced.

The human induced climate change has a severe impact on Uganda’s rainfall patterns, leading to dramatic draughts with socio-economic and even life-threatening impact.

Reports offer dramatic provisions for the population. human-induced climate change is likely to reflect in increased food insecurity, shifts in the spread of diseases like malaria, soil erosion and land degradation, flood damage to infrastructure and settlements and shifts in the productivity of agricultural and natural resources.

Comparisons with other African countries

At the pre-COP meeting in Kinshasa DR Congo, the Deputy prime minister and Minister of Environment and sustainable development Eva Bazaiba Masudi noted that “As owner and guardian of the environmental potential sought by the world to face the challenges of climate change. The DRC presents its forests, mangroves, peatlands, freshwater resources and strategic minerals as a natural response to climate change, the DRC is the climate crisis solution country.”

According to the 2018 Water Gap- State of the World’s Water Report issued by Water Aid, around 844 million people struggle to gain access to clean, safe water, warning that the number has increased with almost 200 million since the previous count. It seems that now we share a world where more than 60% of humankind lives in water-stressed areas that are closing into water scarcity.

If the majority of the impacts of climate change, including natural disasters, are felt in the hydrological cycle and their frequency and magnitude are expected to increase in coming years.

The water crisis is just but a synopsis of the global pressures resulting from climate change vagaries.

It can also be referred to as a warning sign for the entire world that each of us has to step in and put a stop to human-induced climate change. If managed properly, freshwater ecosystems such as wetlands can help to increase resilience and mitigate natural disasters and conflict through support to livelihoods and human well-being.

Uganda hosts the largest river in Africa and one of the largest sources of the Nile. Wetlands, rivers, and lakes cover around 20% of the country’s total surface, as Uganda lies mostly in the Nile River’s drainage basin. Research shows that Uganda – with 66 cubic km of renewable water resources every year – has enough fresh water to entertain economic growth and reduce poverty.

At COP 27, the Green Zone will focus on “implementation” through 17 thematic areas ranging from renewable energy, sustainable cities and sustainable transport to water, nutrition and food systems. They will be organized in 10 thematic days such as Finance Day, Decarbonization Day and, for the first time, a Solutions Day.