Climate change is real in the whole world and Uganda is not exempted from its effects. The governement of Uganda has had a long history of fighting environmental degradation but still it has along way to go.
27/06/2024
By Joseph Kiggundu.
Government was urged to implement environmental laws in order to combat climate change. The parliament called on the Ministry of water and Environment to expedite the implementation of processing of the Ntional climate Change Act,2020 whichwas passed in April 2021. The chairperson of the parliamentary envirnment and Natural resources committee, Hon. Emmanuel Otaala said government needs to implement laws on the envirnment.
Otaala made this call while moving a amotion urging government to implement measures to mitigate the effects of climate change in Uganda, he also said that "in the National Environment Act, there is an environmental levy that is charged. we want the Minister to get this money, buy tree seedlings and give each MP 2000 seedlings to plant in there constituences " said Otaala.
The motion also sought to have government strictly implement all environmental laws including the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act, 2008 and the National Environment Act, 2019.
The other prayers in the motion were for government to undertake measures to mitigate the effects of climate change in Uganda including encouraging recycling, controlling emission of greenhouse gases, afforestation and the use of clean renewables energy. The government is encouraged to develop local solutions and technologies as a means of mitigating climate change in Uganda, our economy is dependant on the climate since its highly agro-based and rain-fed, its estimated that 60% of farmers in Uganda are on small-holder level and are living on less favoured land. Of these, 80% are women who rely on the sector to fend for their families.
For starters in 1991, Uganda launched its first National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) process. The main purpose of NEAP was to integrate environmental concerns into one overall socio-economic development process, and to address concrete modalities for the conservation of Uganda's natural heritage. The NEAP process also resulted into several environmental policies, legislation, institutional arrangrments and an investment plan. This forms Uganda's defacto conservation strategy today.
Uganda is being caught between underdevelopment, poverty and envronmental degradation, and the need to exploit natural resources for development forexample mining of gold in mubende and karamoja, exploiting of oil and gas at Kabaale, Buseruka sub-county in Hoima district, the construct of the oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania by EACOP has led to destruction of some small forests and wetlands along the way. The exemption of the wealth or rich in the efforts of demolishing properties and development that happen in the wetland forexample Lubigi, its reported that NEMA demolished some priperties and left some rich people's businesses including STABEX international gas company which brought up mixed reactions in the population of Nansana, Wakiso and questions about NEMA's ability to fully fight against environmental degradation in Uganda.
Uganda, however has taken a bold and long overdue step to revamp its 24-year old environmental law, the National Environment Act(cap.153) NEA. The amendment was necessary given the massive infrastructure projects in the energy sector, the planned infrastructure of a refinery and pipelines in the oil and gas space, the imminent production of oil, increasing urbanisation and the consquent pressures on land, and climate change. The NEA, drafted in 1995, had long passed its sell by date and sorely needed an overhaul to address the current challenges.
The NEA 2019 maintained the old framework approach of the law, with few provisions on environmental protection, leaving the details to be laid out in statutory instruments. Unfortunately, under the old law, relatively few instruments were published. Iconically, no statutory instrument was ever published on air quality standards, making it hard to combant air pollution concerns in the country.
It is in public knowledge and apparent from reading the NEA 2019 that the National Environment Management Authority has learnt few lessons in environmental protection over the last 24 years. The amendment of the law was driven to address the growing environmental concerns of the day and the failings of the past but when take a glance at the industrial parks like Namanve, and the exemptions of stabex petrol station in Lubigi wetland then you realise that NEMA still has big challenges and need determination to deter climate change effects like Floods in Kampala.