Uganda Research Briefing

A recent report by the Global Humanitarian Forum labels Uganda as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. 

Ugandan government and policy-makers who participated in our research agree that Uganda will be among the worst affected nations, despite being one of the least responsible in contributing to human-induced climate change. Read the full briefing here.

Insights coming out of the briefing include:

• Climate change is not a concept recognised by most Ugandans 
• Many believe deforestation and local pollution directly affect the weather
• People know trees are very important, but do not know about the carbon cycle.

Climate scientists predict that climate change will result in more erratic and intense rain in Uganda, bringing floods, landslides and soil erosion. Drought has already triggered internal migration.

A man from Amuria in Eastern Uganda told us about the 2007 floods (right): "...soil was washed away, roads were washed away, and this caused a lot of hunger, because the food which people tried to put down in the soil was washed away by the floods."

Uganda's economy may also suffer. Recent reports by Oxfam and the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID), referenced in the briefing, say rising temperatues will have serious impacts on coffee production and freshwater fisheries.

The research recommends that explanations of climate change must be directly relevant to people’s lives and relate to existing understanding of seasonal variations.