By David Anyanzo/Adjumani

29/02/2024

Adjumani district has experienced significant effects of climate change since 2017. Daily temperatures go to a record high above 32 degrees Celsius, and the community is getting puzzled about what they can do to address the situation.

When Moving around the district, it is visible that there is serious dryness affecting plant, animal, and human lives. Lives of these things are at risk, people struggle to get clean and fresh water for consumption, plants wither for water to keep growing, and animals starve to death, the unending conditions in the district have harmed both humans, plants, and animals.

Mr. Obol Dima the former Youth chairperson of Adjumani district and now an environmental activist blames the adverse heat on the rampant destruction of the natural forests in the district. “he said that there are many human activities that lead to the adverse climatic conditions like indiscriminative cutting down of trees for charcoal, logs, and farming in Zoka corridors and surrounding areas. These trees were helping a lot in rainfall formation and climatic atmospheric modification.

“Bush burning yet is another factor that causes climatic changes, bush burning has continued to be a threat to the ecosystem and general environment hence contributing to the current extremism in weather as the ozone layers get affected, “says Mr. Obol.

“He said that encroachment of the wetlands for settlement and other human activities like farming, and recreational centers within the town and outside the town continue to pose a threat to the climatic hence the current hazardous climatic conditions”.

Mr. Tako Michael the chief executive director of Moini Botanical Garden located in Pakwinya Village, Mungula Parish, Itirikwa Sub County in Adjumani District blamed the unending conditions of the climate in Adjumani district on two human activities firstly, overgrazing and keeping animals beyond the capacity in the area and secondly overuse of nitrogen fertilizer that produce nitrous oxide into the atmosphere all these causes has led to negative effects on both humans and animals like constant drought, floods, increase incidents of pests and diseases, storms, reduction in water levels, high temperature, hunger, loss of biodiversity among others throughout the year.

Mrs. Alice a large-scale farmer in Orungwa Village, Mungula Parish, Itirikwa sub-county said ten years ago she used to harvest over 100 bags of maize grain, 50bags of beans, etc. but due to the change in climatic conditions had drastically affected her farming, When asked what she thinks causes all these shortcomings in the district, she attributed all these to two things, human activities that hinder rainfall modification and the over-dependence on wood fuel and rampant destruction of Zoka Forests for logs. Farming has hurt the climate and affects humans, plants, and farming has given a negative impact on climate that affects humans, plants, and animals.

However, according to Mr. Obol, things can be done to fight the conditions, which includes launching a campaign and enforcing the protection of indigenous tree species that contribute much to environmental conservation

Promotion of farming practices that can allow trees to co-exist with trees; in other words, environment conservation and gazetting more forest reserves in the district, especially natural forests.

Discouraging settlement in wetlands and promoting only eco-friendly activities, promoting massive tree planting by every household, reducing charcoal usage and identifying alternative fuel sources, massive awareness of the role of the local community in environmental protection, and enforcing in-laws against bush burning. 

Mr. Michael lamented that all these negative effects on humans, plants, and animals can be avoided in some ways through the use of renewable energy, diversification, keeping more animals instead of crop farming, the use of an integrated natural resource management approach, afforestation, conservation of existing wetlands, and most importantly, the sensitization of the people to the dangers of climate change on both human and animal lives.

Mrs. Alice requested that the district officials have strict laws put in place for those destroying forests without replacement and the use of renewable energies to reduce the high rate of cutting down trees for charcoal.  

Trees and forests are key to addressing biodiversity and climate change, as they absorb greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from the air and help stabilize the earth’s climate. 

But as demand for food grows, an increasing number of forests and natural habitats are being destroyed to pave the way for more and bigger farmlands and pastures, hence affecting the climate pattern in an area. As the earth’s temperature rises and the moisture content in its atmosphere increases, weather patterns like droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, landslides, and storms, become more frequent, unpredictable, and intense.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions.

By Doreen Bazio (Media For All, Uganda).

According to the 2023 annual Uganda Police crime report, 15,184 people countrywide were victims of domestic violence, of whom 11,941 were female. In West Nile, at least 817 cases of domestic violence were recorded in the sub-region. A cross-section of stakeholders in the Ma’di Subregion of West Nile has now attributed climate change to the rise of cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in the region.

With between 500-1000 cases of domestic violence reported so far this year since January in only 3 of the 11 districts in the region, the number is likely to rise or double. Several factors are contributing to this crisis, with refugee areas in the lead

The situation in Adjumani and Testimonies

Juan Scovia, a mother of five and a refugee from Agojo Refugee Settlement, acknowledges that climate change is impacting her family negatively following the reduction in the food ratio by the World Food Program.

She reveals that, as a result, she resorted to the sale of firewood to earn money to buy basic family needs, pay school fees, and cover health care further attesting that due to climate change, she is forced to move more than 15 kilometers to look for firewood.

“I move with my two daughters up to 15 kilometers to get firewood, the challenge is we don’t just get the firewood but face challenges from the landlords who sometimes take away the firewood we have collected, After spending many hours, when we reach home, we face more challenges at home for coming home late,” Juan laments.

Gloria Mania, a charcoal seller in Awindiri Market in Adjumani Town also confesses that she used to buy more than 10 sacks of charcoal and earn about shs 250,000/= weekly adding that now due to the impact of climate change, she can only afford less than 4 sacks which has made her resort to selling in basins. This was however misunderstood by her husband.

“I can no longer earn the money I used to get, I hardly earn shs 100,000 in a week, and this has caused us problems with my husband, My support at home has reduced, My husband thinks I am not honest with him yet this is a problem which is beyond my control,” Mania states.

Garang Bul Gak, the Refugee Welfare Councilor III – Adjumani, who is located in the Baratuku Refugee Settlement, laments that there are so many cases of domestic violence recorded at the 19 refugee settlements in Adjumani ranging from child neglect to domestic fights due to the challenges of climate change.

He also adds that most refugees now prefer to settle in Western Uganda where the government has land – hoping to have access to government land for farming.

“Currently, the refugees have been forced to move from one settlement to the other in research of better and fertile land for growing crops, most of the refugees now move to Kiryadongo where there is government land. Most of them have left their families suffering, others have left children alone, while others opt to go back to South Sudan,” Bul said.

Similarly, women are also the biggest victims of land conflicts heightened by climate change due to land fragmentation. According to Justine Alule, Adjumani District Agricultural Officer, the number of women involved in agriculture has reduced because of domestic violence leading to reduced productivity thus food insecurity in homes.

“Climate Change has caused land fragmentation and this has increased land conflicts in the region with women as the biggest victims,” Alule said.

William Amanzuru, an award-winning environmentalist and the team leader at Friends of Zoka says that while there has been a lot of environmental destruction worsened by the influx of Refugees in the area, not even a presidential order has been able to stop the burning and selling of charcoal and transportation of forest products with women at the forefront as victims.

“The more charcoal burning is taking place, the more women are suffering,” Amanzuru said.

The Situation in Yumbe District.

According to Lona Keji, a refugee in the Bidibidi Zone II Refugee Settlement, the cases of GBV are equally common in Yumbe District refugees’ areas and it’s very difficult to control the cases related to Climate Change.

“Firewood has become a big issue in the settlement and women move more than 10kms to look for firewood in the bush yet it’s very risky to their lives. When they are assaulted or sexually harassed, they refuse to report to their husbands because of fear that they could be divorced,” she observes.

On the other hand, Serbeet Kawawa, the Yumbe District Natural Resources Officer, says that the various effects of climate change are anthropogenic factors (factors mostly aggravated by the men), and if you go into the business of charcoal burning, very few women about 45% are involved but the rest are men.

“If you come to the effects of charcoal burning, it’s mainly the women who face it. One thing is that because of the scarcity of wood fuel as a result of deforestation that has been fuelled by the men, women trek very long distances to look for firewood and there are a lot of things that happen when a woman goes very far to look for firewood. We have cases where women are raped including girls in the process of looking for firewood in the bush. Cases of school dropouts rate high among the girl child because they abandon school to go and look for firewood,” he added.

Kawawa also added that domestic violence heightened by climate change is also common because women and girls move long distances to look for water and yet their spouses at home also expect them to do house chores and prepare food on time.

“You can see that, there are a lot of injustices being administered towards the women by the men and yet looking at the gender roles at home, while the woman is doing other works, the man is supposed to come in and help but in our African setting, there are a lot of responsibilities we think is for the women,” he stressed.

On food security, Keji says the environment in Yumbe is not conducive for farming because of the harsh weather. Worse still, she also observes that single mothers are being grabbed off their farmland or sometimes some men claim to help them but they end up harassing them sexually.

Meanwhile, Austin Andemani, the Yumbe District Community Development Officer, reveals that his district had set an annual target of recording  300 GBV cases but within 3 months spanning January to April 2024, this number has already been surpassed and they were still entering data to establish the actual number. This he adds, however, only covers cases that have been reported officially and omits those in the community that are directly linked to effects of climate change. To avert this challenge, the department ensures that cases related to violence are managed at all levels.

“When the cases come, they do case management where some of them are done at the Police level, and then others are done at the community services level right from the Community Development Officers up to the probation office where the spouses are counseled,” Austin revealed.

Kawawa now says to address climate change, there is a need for active male engagement in solving issues of climate change heightened GBV. He observes that GBV is caused due to low levels of awareness, cultural differences and norms, and poverty among others making the issue gender sensitive.

The concerns from Obongi District

In Obongi District, the story is a little different. Domestic Violence is the driving factor for climate change and reduced involvement of women in food production.

According to Johnson Opigo, the Obongi District Production Officer, the situation in Obongi is worrying as the increasing cases of violence against women account for the deteriorating quality of food produced per homestead each year.

“With women being mostly the breadwinners of their families, violence against them easily translates negatively on any productive work they are doing. Besides, there are increased incidents of both animal and plant diseases and pests which has led to reduced production and productivity,“ Opigo observes.

Still unique to the district, women have decided to take the front seat when it comes to dealing with this challenge. Lilian Mashia, the Executive Director of West Nile Women’s Advocacy Platform, a CBO that operates in the Madi Sub Region, notes that when people talk about adaptation to GBV challenges, there is also a need for women to be at the forefront of advocacy, just as they are the most affected. 

“When developing public policies, women should be the leading voices for large-scale measures such as strengthening or relocating infrastructure from wetland areas, building infrastructure able to withstand more extreme weather conditions, enhancing early warning systems and access to disaster information, developing insurance mechanisms specific to climate-related threats, and creating new protections for wildlife and natural ecosystems should be applied,“ Lillian notes.

Lillian also says it is very important to empower communities because they are at the frontline of climate change in locally-led, or locally-appropriate action which can be addressed by fixing information and knowledge gaps to have accurate climate data that is easily available and accessible. 

Measures to address the challenges

According to Austin, as district authorities in Yumbe District, they give support to vulnerable women through interest group-focused government programs like the Youth Livelihood Program (YLP), special Grants for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs), and Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP). These programs, although not related to climate change, build synergies that link beneficiaries to farming opportunities so that they can earn supplementary income.

While the Natural Resources department in Yumbe District has also made efforts to promote adaptation measures to improve resilience amongst women by establishing a central nursery bed where they can work for a small income and promoting energy efficiency technologies to lessen the dependency on firewood; its Production counterpart is implementing climate-smart Agriculture in response to the current climate crisis with a focus and bias on actively involving a considerable number of women.

In Obongi District, authorities have also focused on mitigating possible climate change-igniting factors like bush burning, and deforestation to reduce the negative effects of climate change on food production. They have also focused most of the adaptation measures at the local level because the rural communities have a big role to play among others planting crop varieties that are more resistant to drought and practicing regenerative agriculture, improving water storage and use, managing land to reduce wildfire risks, and building stronger defenses against extreme weather like floods and heat waves.

With the most refugee settlements in the West Nile Region, Adjumani District, through the Work of Friends of Zoka, a pressure group founded to save Zoka Forest Reserve but with a mandate to primarily among others advocate and lobby for the protection, preservation, and conservation of the bigger environment in Adjumani; the district has made strides with adapting to Climate change effects. As a solution to the alarming climate change, Amanzuru says, they have scaled up sensitization efforts especially for women, to protect the environment and ensure that their interventions are always gender sensitive.

Although Uganda as a country is experiencing the impacts of climate change exhibited by the increase in temperatures, reduced precipitation, and increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts and floods among other related calamities, the West Nile sub-region and particularly the Ma’di Sub Region remains very vulnerable to climate change and its effects due to the low adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers who form majority of the population thus further compounding household poverty, food insecurity and poor health among other challenges. With climate change affecting agriculture, water resources, forestry resources, land, and ultimately the community livelihoods; a joint approach towards averting its effects especially those through violence against women, would be a step forward in the right direction.

This story was published in partnership and with funding from Northern Uganda Media Club.

Ends.

By Scovin Iceta/Media4All

MOYO, 5^th March 2024: The culture or social behaviors of local communities living in predominantly rangeland areas setting bushes on fire during the dry season affect the lives of birds and animal production in the Madi Sub-region.

However, Ms Elizabeth Amen, the Obongi District Tourism Officer, says this has been an ongoing vice. According to her, bush burning is not a new thing in the Madi sub-region because it is often a thing people do intentionally to clear ground in search of delicacies like bush meat, which they use as food.

“The bush burning acts have devastated the tourism sector in the region in very many ways. First of all, trust me, tourism in the Madi subregion is developing rapidly. We have a lot of bird species in the West Nile region, particularly fish-eating birds along the Nile belt. Most of them travel to search for food and when you look at bush burning, often people don’t know the impact it brings but the variety of bird species are affected”, Elizabeth observed.

“When there is bush burning, you will find out that they move away from their natural habitats because the edible fruits are being destroyed for them as much as others in swamp areas are affected. The smoke alone makes them uncomfortable to stay, meaning the bush burning makes the bird species that we have around find another location, and the region has a lot of tree species that provide delicacy for some of these birds, which means the feeding cycle for the birds are cutoff”, Elizabeth added.

Elizabeth also observes that the risk of bush burning doesn’t only affect the environment but also habitats in a particular place. Elizabeth now says that communities should be encouraged to desist from bush burning citing consequences like displacement of birds and other bush species. Engaging communities, Elizabeth advises, is also a platform to upscale conservation conversations and efforts.

 “For us to protect the environment, we need to allow people to earn from the environment because there is no way you can tell someone to protect the Environment without earning from it. The sense of ownership and Empowerment involving local communities in environmental projects fosters a sense of ownership and when people feel connected and responsible for their local environment, they are more likely to actively participate in conservation efforts and also adopt sustainable practices”, Elizabeth explained

Mr. Michael Koma, a resident of Oyajo village in Moyo Sub County, Moyo district, also says that bush burning should be regulated so that the adverse effects are avoided because alternatives include grass cutting for roofing and mulching is burned out. 

The bushes are burnt to encourage new growth for pastures because fire is used for clearing bushes based on its ease, quickness, and convenience for cattle farmers.

“Some bird species increase in number where there is light burning based on the increase in grasses that produce seeds which the birds later feed on. The habitats of small animals and bird may be temporarily destroyed by the bush burning fire and the nests of the birds. The nests on the other hand burn and food are equally destroyed”, Koma observes.

Mr. Koma also adds that “There is a need to continue Education and awareness creation to masses in matters related to environmental protection. Through, community inclusiveness drives, locals can disseminate information about the importance of environmental conservation, Sustainable practices and the impacts of human activities on the ecosystem and this kind of education can lead to behavioral changes like adopting eco-friendly habits and promotion of sustainable development within the locality”.  

Mr. Patrick Droma, the Moyo District Natural Resources Officer, also says the cyclic nature of fires in the district is evidence of increasing climatic instability and change in vegetation.

“Because of the persistent fires, tall vegetation has given way to shrubs lantana camara and Acacia Senegalese. These species suppress the production of accessible and palatable forage and affect the animal production and also put the life of our bird species at risk”, Droma reveals

He also adds that other semi-arid areas of the region found in the Cattle corridor of Adjumani and Yumbe districts also experience extensive bush burning and wind erosion during the dry season.

In response to the effect of drought, the District Production Department under DRDIP and other development partners are promoting rainwater harvesting, and different communities and Non-governmental organizations are also working hand in hand with the local government to promote tree planting programs.

END

John Unzima/Media4All

ADJUMANI, Saturday 18^th, February 2024, at the teeming Awindiri food Market in Adjumani town, two trucks arrive from the Eastern Ugandan town of Mbale delivering a consignment of Cabbages, Onions, and Irish Potatoes. Within minutes, a swarm of retailers surrounded the trucks creating a scene of a mini – ‘gold rush.’ In a blink of an eye, the trucks are empty.

Not long ago, thoughts of commercial import of vegetables and other foodstuffs to the Ma’di region would be an outlandish imagination, but now it is a reality so normalized, yet unknown to the many local food shoppers, what they are facing is a shift from their traditional ways of feeding.

Contrastingly, for a community whose dietary culture is so distinct ranging from wild leaves, and nuts to fish, to turn to importing daily nutritional nourishment beckons a question, what has gone wrong?  The answers are somewhat obvious! Domestic food production plummeted lately! But why?

Mr. Ojja Francis, Adjumani District Forest Officer, says the line between crop productivity and reliability of rainfall is blurred, adding that one of its impacts of unreliable rain has had a direct downward effect on the local crop production capacity in the Ma’di Sub-region.

“Our rain season has become shorter, it rains a lot in a short period, this is a characteristic of Climate Change, and as such people prefer growing quick maturing crops that are not indigenous,” Ojja said.

On the changing food trend, Ojja says, traditional foods are cooked using local ingredients, where productivity is low. Due to Changing Climate trends, the ingredients are hard to come by, and the food culture had to change.

Whatever change they talk about, the reality is biting and disrupting the feeding culture of the Ma’di people who grew much of their food previously, are in a quick turn to importing food, so much so that some very traditional staple foods of the Ma’di people like millet and Sorghum are not on the market stalls anymore.

As bleak as it gets, for vegetable traders like Vincent Kidobi, from Mbale, it’s a boom, he trucks in cabbages and Irish potatoes thrice a month, making multiple folds in profits that he’s not willing to disclose.

Admittedly, a smiley Kidobi also says, “Awindiri is our best destination, here the market is ready!”

Whilst the traders cashing in, a study by Palm Corps, an Agro based Non-governmental organization puts West Nile’s net annual import of food at Seven (7) billion shillings, narrowing to Adjumani district, the Palm Corps survey counts three Trucks arriving daily into Adjumani with either Tomatoes, Cabbages or Onions.  

Alexander Andama, the Team Leader of Palm Corps Adjumani, leading the survey, among other factors, points to erratic Climatic Change that has driven many grassroots communities out of subsistence farming turning them into gross buyers of food for domestic consumption.

Dying Ma’di Culture   

In a 2016 documentary, titled Rainmaking; “Disappearing Practice”, Dominic Dipio a renowned filmmaker also Makerere University Scholar, singled out another aspect of traditional Ma’di life that is disappearing largely due to the ecological crises and Climate Change, rainmaking.

Rainmaking is a predominant practice among the Sudanic linguistic group, the ritual is centered around individuals who are bequeathed with supernatural abilities to rouse rain even in the wildest period of dry seasons, without any scientific footing, rainmakers were revered among the Ma’di people.

The ritual is performed around a specific type of tree, requiring herbs that have fallen prey to the runaway logging and Charcoal trade that is ravaging the Ma’di districts, just as it does to the rest of the West Nile region, exacerbating the climate crisis.

Dipio says, that beyond the rainmaking, the entire Ma’di heritage is at the critical stage of being deleted by ‘new ways’ of life as they adapt to changes in the environment, according to her the trend penetrates all ways of life, from social life to the economy, Ma’di culture is giving way at a worrying speed, yet little is being done to slow the changes.

She recalls, that Ma’di are avid cattle keepers but today, it astonishes her that a Ma’di family hands over their cattle to be looked after by other people.

“It is worrying, that people (Ma’di) no longer care about their culture yet culture is the reason for their very existence,”  Dipio said 

In the policy books

At the back, sitting well with the loud cry for cultural renewal echoing among the traditionalists, Uganda National Culture Policy 2006, is fittingly plain on the need to protect indigenous knowledge that includes food culture but despite its clear intent, the policy shares the plight of many, it is shelved.

Underscoring the importance of culture, the Policy reads in the quote “Although indigenous knowledge is useful to people, limited research, inadequate documentation of the indigenous Knowledge affects the practice of Culture”

The policy further states that “in some cases Indigenous knowledge, has been marginalized and threatened with extinction by modern knowledge and environmental degradation”, effectively driving home the predicaments of Cultural practices of the Ma’di people among other cultures in Uganda.

END