Eastern region most hit by climate change, experts warn

MBALE-According to climate change experts, global warming has caused more damage in eastern Uganda compared to other regions of the country.

The experts said the region is among the regions worst affected by climate change through disruptions to productivity in key economic sectors including agriculture, roads, rivers, and other infrastructure.

They said increased temperatures recently affected the production of crops like cassava, sweet potatoes among others.

Jackson Muhindo, the climate Justice coordinator Oxfam in Uganda, said climate change is also responsible for the destruction of property, infrastructure, and lives among others.

“Most of the districts have registered several disasters such as floods and landslides. People’s houses have collapsed and crops have been affected,” he said.

“The Karamoja which is part of the Eastern has been hit hard by prolonged dry spells that have affected the planting seasons leading to hunger among communities that results in malnutrition and loss of lives,” he said.

He said the most recent deaths were reported in Karamoja were due to lack of food where about 900 people were reported to have died between July and August 2022.

The lack of water and pastures in Karamoja, he said, has affected livestock and thus affected the livelihoods of the Karamojong people.

He said the climate crisis is heating up hard low developed countries like Uganda which are less responsible for the world’s emissions that have caused climate change.

Muhindo said the largest carbon emitters responsible for the current climate crisis should take and accept responsibility and increase their contributions to adaptation and mitigation.

According to him, Oxfam will continue to mobilise its partners in drumming for climate action at both local and international levels.

The experts said the impacts of extreme weather events such as flooding and landslides have excreted economic pressures on local economies.

According to them, it has strained government and developmental partners to quickly provide emergency funding requirements to rebuild destroyed infrastructures and respond to the immediate needs of affected residents.

Teso Sub-region was one of the country’s food baskets, but today, its communities, especially those living in low-lying areas face food shortages and frequently depend on the government for relief.

The prolonged drought and frequent flooding have destroyed crop yields, leaving many households with barely anything to eat.

David Omoding, a 53-year-old farmer from Kaparis Village, Kangole Sub-county in Bukedea district recently told this reporter that he has not had any decent harvest from his six-acre piece of land in the past five years.

He blamed it on continued floods and drought that have been destroying his crops.

This news website learnt that floods have mainly affected Kabarwa, Kamutur, Kangole, and Malera Sub counties. For instance, in Kangole alone, 1,548 households are stranded due to water logging.

According to Mr Moses Olemukan, the Bukedea Chairperson, 52,000 households need food. Between May and July, famine hit many parts of Teso and Karamoja sub-regions, forcing the government to send a consignment of food.

The Teso forest cover has declined from 53 percent in 1990 to 7.3 percent. The wetlands have also not been spared.

In 2006, Bukedea had a forest cover of 36 percent but it has since reduced to 2 percent due to uncontrolled human activities.

Harriet Akoth, an environmental activist, said climate change threatens to frustrate poverty eradication programmes and the millennium Development Goals.

She added that the region has emerged as the most vulnerable to climate change in the country.

Akoth said climate change has impacted development in the country on a regular basis. For instance, about 30 deaths recorded in Mbale district in August this year after several disasters caused by climate change.

In Mbale, the floods were triggered after several rivers such as Nabuyonga, Namatala, Nashibiso and Napwoli burst their banks.

According to a comprehensive report from the Office of the Prime Minister [OPM], about 1,000 persons were displaced, 80 houses and three health centres damaged by floods in Mbale City in August.

The floods also washed away bridges on roads such as Mbale-Bufumbo, Namabale, Nashikasho, Namawane, Nagairrira, Busamaga, Bukhatoko, Ndohwe, Nambitsi, Namakole, and Nabuyonga.

The other affected roads were Mbale- Nkokonjeru, Mbale-Bufumbo roads, Nashikasho–Namawane, Sakiya–Bukhatoko,  Ndohwe, Nambitsi, Busaano, and Busaano-Bufoto.

The region has registered heavy downpours and accompanying strong winds resulting in severe flooding.

Moses Mbogo, an environmental expert, says environment and natural resources are mercilessly under threat from both natural and manmade drivers of change.

The Uganda National Meteorological Authority [UNMA] has warned that the country’s cattle corridor is expected to become water-stressed. The dry conditions are likely to affect the quality and quantity of pasture in the corridor, jeopardising food security.

Livestock and crop farmers in several districts in eastern Uganda have also started feeling the pinch of the long dry spell. For instance, several farmers in the Bukedi Sub-region who had planted their food crops are already counting their losses.

The hostile weather has also not spared cattle keepers. Malnutrition cases in Budaka district have spiked, with Dr Elisa Mulwani, the district health officer, attributing the grim picture to among others “lack of food.” Rainfall deficits are believed to have resulted in widespread crop wilting in the eastern districts.

The Butaleja District Senior Environment officer, Ms Lamula were, said the region is hit by climate change due to the increasing wetland degradation.

“For instance, wetlands in Butaleja District have become seasonal,” she said.

She said land degradation is worse in more populated areas and in the more fragile mountainous areas and the flood plains of the region.

“In such areas, soil erosion is increasing, landslides, soil infertility, and agrochemical pollution and desertification as well as floods are on the rise,” she said.

The Pallisa district natural resource officer, Muhammad Samuka, said they are adopting knowledge on climate change.

“People should use the wetlands wisely by growing crops which are much valuable like vegetables. We request to leave swamps and forests,” he said.

He further appeals to world leaders on funding towards irrigation.

“In irrigations farmers are able to grow various crops like tomatoes, onions throughout the year they have water. Its earning crops We need funding for alternatives, smart agriculture and tree planting,” he said.

Natural resource degradation in Uganda accounts for over 80 percent of the annual costs of environmental degradation

According to the State of Environment Report produced by the National Environment Management Authority [NEMA] in 2012, losses and damage to crops were estimated to be US$ 47 million, which is equal to about 3 percent of the value of all cash and food crops in that year. Other extreme events have resulted in even bigger losses, possibly as much as 30 percent of the sector’s normal output.

Climate change damage estimates in the agriculture, water, infrastructure and energy sectors collectively amount to 2 to 4 percent of the GDP between 2010 and 2050. The national-level studies show that if no adaptive action is taken, annual costs could be in the range of US$ 3.2-5.9 billion within a decade, with the biggest impacts being on water, followed by energy, agriculture, and infrastructure.

https://thecooperator.news/floods-kills-eight-several-missing-in-mbale/

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