In July this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) passed a landmark ‘advisory opinion’ that called on individual nations to be held legally accountable for destroying the environment, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In a unanimous decision issued on July 23, the 15 justices of the Hague-based court held that the production and consumption of fossil fuels may constitute an internationally wrongful act attributed to the State.
‘Failure of a State to take appropriate action to protect the climate system from GHG emissions, including fossil fuel production, fossil fuel consumption, the granting of fossil fuel exploration licenses or the provision of fossil fuel subsidies, would constitute an internationally wrongful act, attributable to that state,’ the ICJ held.
The world’s highest court also recognised the urgent and existential threat currently facing the world; those harmed by human-caused climate change may be entitled to reparations.
The fact that the world’s highest court has cautioned all countries to ensure the effective mitigation of climate-related issues means a great deal to individual countries. This decision has called into question whether the matter has been on the radar of any presidential candidates this electoral season.
We sampled the manifestos of the four main parties in this year’s presidential contest; the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), National Unity Platform (NUP), and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), on how they look at climate change issues.
FDC manifesto
If elected to office in January 2026, the FDC promises to enforce strict regulations to combat pollution, deforestation, wildlife poaching, and illegal logging.
The party also promises to promote sustainable land use practices, including agro-forestry and conservation agriculture, and educate communities about the importance of environmental conservation.
The party, fronting Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi as its presidential candidate, has also pledged to improve the state of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and protected areas to safeguard endangered species, implement breeding programs for endangered species, and introduce modern technologies to reduce encroachments on wildlife habitats.
In response to recent disasters that have claimed several lives around the country, but more recently in Sebei Sub-region, the party pledges to establish early warning systems to guard against impending disasters, enabling proactive measures for safety, in a bid to prevent extreme damage and loss of life. The FDC is thinking about mitigating these disasters.
‘We plan to develop insurance products and risk transfer mechanisms to help individuals and businesses manage risks associated with natural disasters,’ the FDC’s manifesto states in part.
NUP manifesto
For their part, NUP, the largest Opposition political party in Parliament, pledges to emphasise Uganda’s vulnerability to climate change vagaries once elected into power next month, owing to the challenges they present to human life, natural resources, and agriculture, and how they impact livelihoods through floods, droughts, and landslides.
In their manifesto, NUP pledges to forge global partnerships to secure funding for climate adaptation and mitigation priorities; adopt a climate-responsive budgeting framework, integrate climate risk forecasts into budget planning; establish contingency mechanisms for disasters, and ensure transparency in climate-related expenditures.
The NUP’s other climate mitigation pledges include establishing a national adaptation fund, supporting community-level climate adaptation initiatives, including climate-smart agriculture, sustainable water access, health system resilience, and disaster risk reduction.
The party, which has fronted Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, as its presidential candidate, also promises to commission long-term climate-fiscal analysis; conduct fiscal modelling under varying climate scenarios, and publish annual climate fiscal risk reports. Just like FDC, NUP pledges to accelerate early warning systems, invest in predictive methods, and community-based strategies to mitigate climate risks.
NRM manifesto
The ruling NRM party in its manifesto has vowed to mitigate climate change challenges if given another nod, through 10 areas. The party, which has again chosen Yoweri Museveni as their presidential candidate, is looking to strengthen the regulation and enforcement against degradation of our environment, including protection of the water bodies; invest in urban forestry/greening of cities and other urban areas.
The ruling party will also look to support value addition for sustainable commercial forestry, as a way of preventing unnecessary raw material losses, and continue promoting the use of alternative sources of energy for cooking, away from charcoal and firewood, including supporting livestock farmers to invest in bio-digesters for biogas production.
Other promises include regulated fishing, and eco-tourism to create jobs and foster prosperity, while maintaining the ecological health of lakes and rivers; promoting wetland alternative livelihood options such as fish farming against rice growing; restoring degraded wetlands by among others, cancelling all titles issued in wetlands.
ANT manifesto
Under it, look at climate change, the ANT is pledging to provide safe water for domestic and industrial use in Uganda, which it says remains a challenge and is largely financed by foreign partners, who are increasingly scaling down their support.
‘The provision of water and related services of sanitation and hygiene, commonly called WASH, has to be done within the broader context of preservation of the environment and other forms of natural resources,’ ANT avers in its manifesto.
ANT’s presidential candidate, Maj Gen (Rtd) Mugisha Muntu, said the following interventions will guide the party once elected into power on a strategic approach to the WASH and environmental protection sector.
This, they say, will be carried out through the efficient delivery of adequate water resources wherever and whenever they are needed. The ANT is also promising to encourage appropriate production and use of biomass to ensure preservation of the environment as well as lives and livelihoods.
‘While it’s true that closer to 95 percent of Ugandans still use biomass as a main source of energy for cooking at home, institutions, and some industrial processes like the preparation of bricks and tobacco, the transition shall be well-managed based on realities,’ ANT pledges.
Climate change experts weigh in
We turned to environmental experts to assess the manifestos of the four parties regarding climate change. Mr Denis Yubu, a climate change activist and a social political commentator, said the NUP manifesto is the most realistic, in his estimation, on how best to mitigate the challenges than the rest.
‘Among all contenders, NUP speaks most like it has read both science and the suffering. Its manifesto treats climate not as decoration but as debt-a national emergency that touches every tax, every road, every farmer’s field,” Mr Yubu said.
He added: ‘This is the strongest climate manifesto in Uganda’s 2026 race. It moves beyond rhetoric to systems change – budget reform, fiscal modelling, and ecosystem valuation.’
However, Mr Yubu described ANT’s manifesto as one that carries discipline without details on execution. ”It calls for irrigation to reach two million farmers, reforestation enforcement, and watershed protection in landslide zones, and yet its silence on funding leaves it floating between promise and prayer,’ he said.
The expert said the FDC manifesto ‘reads like a relic of calmer weather’.
Mr Yubu said the NRM has laid strategies in its manifesto but its does not explain how it will resolve the current climate-related challenges, like what is happening in Sebei Sub-region, where flash floods have killed more than a dozen residents.
‘NRM lists past irrigation and wetland projects but fails to introduce a new climate institution, no no-emissions path, and no debt-risk plan. Scale without strategy. Power without imagination,” he said.
Likewise, Ms Angela Nalubega, an activist from Makerere University, said NUP’s pledges could mitigate several climate-related challenges if implemented.
‘NUP’s manifesto has clearly shown the purpose, urgency, and strong desire for climate action as the candidate outlines the adaptation strategies and the mitigation strategies that are both relevant and some have criticism,’ she said. Turning to the NRM party’s manifesto,
Ms Nalubega noted: ‘There is no clear explanation in the manifesto on how they will regulate or monitor their negative effects on the environment, which greatly lead to climate change, to ensure compliance with international emission reduction standards, including the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C.”
She added: ‘This lack of clarity raises concerns about whether continued industrial expansion can align with climate action commitments.”
Moving on to the ANT party manifesto, Ms Nalubega said it overlooks how climate change will be mitigated in various communities, despite innovations introduced for the sake of agriculture.
‘Improving irrigation systems means communities can still grow food and manage water even when climate patterns shift; however, how long can we as a country keep adapting to the climate changes if we don’t take action to face and stop the causes of climate change. This makes it biased in the long run as the climate partners keep changing and wasting resources,’ she explained.