Climate change is a concern due to flash floods, air pollution, and depletion of forests. The government, through the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), has taken action such as educating the public about the dangers of encroachment on wetlands, issuing restoration orders, and demolition of houses illegally constructed in swamps. The most recent restoration exercise commenced in May 2024 with the demolition of houses in the Lubigi swamp in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District. Over 2,000 people were left homeless, with the majority setting up makeshift tents where they lived for over four months. This eviction exercise awakened climate action activists, like the Africa Tourism and Environment Initiatives Uganda (ATEI-U), to work towards preventing future evictions.
The Initiative is a youth-led organisation that promotes climate change awareness through sports, music concerts, seminars, and beauty contests, among others. According to Bismac Moses Amumpeire, the executive director, the organisation chose these avenues to bring youth on board to spread climate change awareness. With other partners, ATEI-U organised a climate change awareness marathon last week at Makerere University in commemoration of World Car Free Day. ‘We aimed to raise funds towards climate resilience in the Karamoja sub-region. On such a day, the public is expected to use clean mobility other than fuel in vehicles and motorcycles,’ Amumpeire says. The marathon themed: Running for a Green Future: Youth Innovation and Action for Climate Justice, attracted over 200 participants, including university students from Makerere University, Cavendish University, Kyambogo University, and youth from neighbouring communities.
‘I commend the management of Makerere University for respecting their initiative by stopping the movement of vehicles for three hours, to honuor the day. Our mission in Karamoja will focus on tree planting and cleaning valley dams in Karenga-Kaabong agro-tourism village,’ Amumpeire explains. The organisation will promote agro-tourism and eco-tourism. They will also plant indigenous tree species, mostly fruit trees, to curb food insecurity. Other areas that will benefit in subsequent fundraisers include Kotido, Moroto, and Abim districts. To date, at least 2000 trees have been planted. ‘We want to clean and maintain the valley dams to ensure that during the drought, the local communities irrigate the trees we have planted.
We want to plant as many trees as possible near the water points before stretching out to the rest of the community,’ Amumpeire adds. This was the first climate change marathon, and Amumpeire is hopeful that with time, Ugandans will start adopting electric transport to mitigate the dangers of fuel emissions if the government makes deliberate efforts to put in place tax incentives on electric vehicles and motorcycles. In Uganda, it is estimated that over 30,000 people die annually due to air pollution-related illnesses. According to NEMA, the transport sector contributes 60 percent of nitrogen oxide exhaust emissions within the city. It was suggested that regulating emissions would greatly reduce the air pollution.
Miss Climate Change Awareness
After realising that climate change awareness needed a wider advocacy campaign to reach the grassroots, ATEI started Miss Climate Change Awareness, which is always held on Women’s Day, to put women at the forefront of advocating for climate action. This year, eight contestants were crowned at the regional level, basing on different aspects, including community impact and conservation, among others. Sandra Namirembe was crowned the overall Miss Climate Change Awareness Uganda. Resty Mbwali, the ATEI-U’s programme manager, says this year they focused on clean mobility because every hour a car is stalled in a traffic jam, it burns fuel, emitting carbon into the environment. ‘This is a call to action for city planners to put in place lanes which cyclists, skaters, and pedestrians can use,’ she advises.
The organisation also uses music, anti-poaching initiatives, and Ekkula Sustainable Tourism Awards to inspire conversations around climate change, especially for those who find it difficult to read articles about climate change. Maria Moureen Nabuule, who was crowned Miss Climate Change Awareness Central Region, says she holds outreaches in schools every month to educate learners about climate action. ‘I am advocating for the introduction of green jobs in schools and communities, for example, people who recycle plastics to reduce plastic pollution. We also held restoration exercises in Bunjako and Lazarus forests, where we planted native tree species. Before the restoration exercises, we held community meetings, rallying people to support our initiatives,’ she explains. Through the ‘Pet a Tree’ campaign, ATIE-U plants a tree and gives it a pet name.
The campaign encourages people to view trees as companions, fostering a culture of emotional bonding and stewardship through actions like planting, naming, nurturing, and celebrating the growth of trees, similar to how one would care for a pet. The goal is to promote tree planting and conservation to combat climate change and increase vegetation in Uganda. ‘In urban areas like Kampala City, we are planting small forests also known as Miyawaki forests due to limited space. Such forests have been planted at some schools within the city,’ Nabuule notes. Miyawaki forests are dense, multi-layered mini-forests created using the Miyawaki method, which focuses on planting native, diverse tree and shrub species at high densities on degraded soil, accelerating natural processes to rapidly establish a self-sufficient and resilient forest ecosystem within a few years.
These mini-forests provide significant environmental benefits, including enhanced biodiversity, increased carbon capture, and improved local climate conditions, making them a valuable tool for urban greening and climate change mitigation. Sandra Namirembe, the reigning Miss Climate Change Awareness Uganda, hails from Bweyogere, an urban area. She has embarked on community awareness about proper waste management. ‘Poor waste disposal is the root cause of flash floods because when it rains, garbage gets stuck in trenches, blocking water flow. This has led to loss of lives and property. I have sensitised people on how to separate plastics from decomposing material,’ she says.
Namirembe discloses that once a month, the community cleans up the trenches, unblocking the drainage system. In Western Uganda, she has held outreaches to schools to initiate children into being environmental stewards. Stella Aber, the Climate Change Awareness Queen for the Northern Region, has engaged cultural leaders in the climate change awareness campaign. ‘Northern Uganda has suffered a high rate of deforestation due to charcoal burning. The land is bare, causing excessive heat, and when it rains, there are no organisms to open up the earth so that water can penetrate the soil. The most affected districts are Agago, Pader, and Amuru,’ she says. The Western region Miss Climate Awareness Queen, Christine Kirungi, uses her social media platforms to reach out to the public. She is planning to conduct tree planting campaigns in Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, and Kabarole districts.
Government response
The government, through MWE launched a five-year tree planting campaign, called the ROOT (Running Out Of Trees), with a target of restoring Uganda’s tree cover by 200 million trees by 2026, planting 40 million trees each year. According to the ministry’s statistics, Uganda has 440 indigenous species of trees, but people prefer artificial species like pine and eucalyptus because some of the indigenous species are not commercially viable. ‘Since the launch of the ROOTS campaign, the government, working with private partners and non-governmental organisations, planted 8.3 million trees in 2021, 13.7 million in 2022, and 20.9 million in 2023.
The ministry also organises an annual National Tree Planting Day, planting millions of trees in different areas in commemoration of the day,’ says Isa Katwesigye, the assistant commissioner for Forestry. David Okurut, the commissioner for Wetlands Management, warns those who encroach on wetlands that they will be evicted, especially those who were issued with restoration orders and did not comply. ‘The areas likely to face the eviction exercises include Lubigi, Munyonyo, and Nakuwadde. Some of these people were issued with restoration orders last year, and their houses were marked for demolition. The law is clear that all wetlands are gazetted and belong to the government,’ he warns. Muhammad Ssemambo, the assistant commissioner in charge of the Climate Change Department, appreciated ATEI-U for the initiative, revealing that the MWE indicated in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that the government will move towards reducing emissions in the transport sector.