27/12/2017
Welcome 2018
Uganda lies astride the equator in the eastern region of Africa and is located on the raised part of the African plateau. The total surface area is 241,551km2 of which 199,807km2 fall under land and 41, 743km2 under swamps and water.
Uganda has rich and diverse climatic conditions, ecosystems, and other natural resources which include fresh water lakes, rivers, wetlands, fisheries, forests, wildlife, minerals, and soils that support different agricultural systems. Gifted by nature was once referred to by Sir Winston Chuchill as the “Pearl of Africa”
This Environment gifted by nature is constantly changing. There is no denying that. However, as our environment changes, so does the need to become increasingly aware of the problems that surround it. With a massive influx of natural disasters, warming and cooling periods, different types of weather patterns and much more, people need to be aware of what types of environmental problems our planet is facing; since the problems originate from Individual to Global.
Environmental issues are harmful effects of human activity on the biophysical environment. Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes impacts on biophysical environments, biodiversity, and other resources.
Environment destruction caused by humans is a global problem, and this is a problem that is ongoing every day as shown besides. By year 2050, the global human population is expected to grow by 2 billion people, thereby reaching a level of 9.6 billion people. The human effects on Earth can be seen in many different ways.
The above selected few, current Environmental issues existing in Uganda are briefly discussed as below;
Climate Change:
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns that lasts for an extended period of time usually decades to millions of years. Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions.
Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as global warming. This implies that today, climate change is less of a natural process. It is rapidly occurring due to the ill effects of human actions responsible for disturbing and harmful out comings such as global warming, greenhouse effect, urban heat, coal industry etc.
This makes Climate change is yet another environmental problem in Uganda that has gradually surfaced in last couple of decades.
Pollution;
This refers to the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution is often classed as point source or pollution. The types of pollution are not only limited to water, soil and noise but has extended to light, visual, point and non-point sources and the major pollutants are Industry, motor vehicle exhaust, Heavy metals, nitrates, plastic and toxins. Human beings and their actions are majorly responsible for causing all types of pollution. The major types of pollution are; water pollution which is caused by oil spill, acid rain, urban runoff; air pollution is caused by various gases and toxins released by industries and factories and combustion of fossil fuels; soil pollution is majorly caused by industrial waste that deprives soil from essential nutrients.
Environmental health
This is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. Other terms referring to or concerning environmental health are environmental public health, and public health protection / environmental health protection. Environmental health and environmental protection are very much related. Environmental health is focused on the natural and built environments for the benefit of human health, whereas environmental protection is concerned with protecting the natural environment for the benefit of human health and the ecosystem.
Global Warming:
Global warming has become an undisputed fact about our current livelihoods; our planet is warming up and we are definitely part of the problem.
This is the increase in earth’s temperature due to effect of greenhouse gases called carbon dioxide, methane, water v***r and other gases. These gases possess heat trapping capacities that are needed to create greenhouse effect so that this planet remains warm for people to survive. Without these gases, this planet would turn be cold for life to exist.
During past several decades, the accumulation of greenhouse gases has grown rapidly, which means more heat gets trapped in the atmosphere and few of these gases escapes back into the space. These gases heat up the earth’s surface and this result in global warming. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports, the earth’s temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past century. Global warming is a serious public health and environmental concern. Global warming can have long lasting effects which can result in melting of glaciers, climate change, droughts, diseases, melting of polar ice caps, rise in sea levels and also unnatural patterns of precipitation such as flash floods.
Overpopulation:
This is a never-ending human tragedy which is responsible for causing all types of environmental issues. Despite efforts taken by the government in terms of family planning, over population is still difficult to control and it is reaching unsustainable levels as it faces shortage of resources like water, fuel and food .This has become more like a subjective concern and no method seems to be 100% efficient to resolve the problem of overpopulation which is straining the already scarce resources through Intensive agriculture practiced to produce food which damages the environment due to use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides.
Natural Resource Depletion:
Natural resource depletion is another crucial current environmental problem. Fossil fuel consumption results in emission of Greenhouse gases, which is responsible for global warming and climate change. Globally, people are taking efforts to shift to renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, biogas and geothermal energy. The cost of installing the infrastructure and maintaining these sources has plummeted in the recent years.
Industrial and Household Waste disposal:
At present, tons of garbage are produced by each Ugandan household each year due to over consumption. Items that can be recycled are sent to local recycling unit while other items become a part of the landfills. However due to increase in demand for food, shelter and house, more goods are produced which results in creation of more waste that needs to be disposed off. Most waste is buried underground in landfill sites. The presence of huge landfills sites across the city pose serious environmental concerns. It affects human health, degrades soil quality, effects wildlife, causes air pollution and results in climate change.
Loss of Biodiversity:
Biodiversity can be defined as a measure of the comparative diversity among organisms present in a particular ecosystem, biome or planet. However, biodiversity can also be described as the quantity of an environment’s species, genes and ecosystems.
Human activity is leading to the extinction of species and habitats and loss of bio-diversity. Eco systems, which took millions of years to perfect, are in danger when any species population is decimating. Balance of natural processes like pollination is crucial to the survival of the eco-system and human activity threatens the same. Another example is the endangered species;
An endangered species is one that is at risk of extinction. This could be due to insufficient numbers of that species remaining in order to reproduce enough offspring to ensure its survival, while changing predation or environmental parameters can also pose a threat to particular organisms. In Uganda they include Vultures, Rhinos, Chimpanzees etc.
Also Overfishing is a serious environmental issue and is essentially catching too many fish. This depletes the adult fish population and does not leave enough fish to breed and restock their numbers so that they can be sustainable.
Deforestation:
With population growing at a rapid pace, the demand for food, shelter and cloth has almost tripled in last few decades. To overcome growing demand, a direct action that we have come to recognize as “Deforestation” occurs. Deforestation means, clearing of forests or green cover for means of agriculture, industrial or urban use. It involves permanent end of forest cover to make that land available for residential, commercial or industrial purpose. Forests are natural sinks of carbon dioxide and produce fresh oxygen as well as helps in regulating temperature and rainfall but According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost each year. The long term effects of deforestation can be severely devastating and alarming as they may cause floods, soil erosion, increase in global warming, climate imbalance, wildlife extinction and other serious environmental issues.
Since the human expansion began, we have always cleared some forest for our needs. With agriculture, larger areas were cleared for our domestic plants and then we found we needed industry. With the recent advent of opencast and cities with dormitory cities, the woods with which we might have grown up are finally lost. Whereas developed countries have recreational forest, none of this is ancient in many countries including Uganda.
The most serious aspect of deforestation Uganda is the serious destruction of tropical rain forests, in favour of crops which can quickly provide profit. The trees can also be profitable of course, if planted and used for industrial purposes like making toilet paper, plywood, tooth picks. Therefore, really valuable trees such as teak have been replanted in Uganda.
Also in Uganda, it seems that deforestation is more about politics than any other conservation issue. When first brought to notice, the response to deforestation is to reforest areas, but it not physically financed.
Water body Acidification:
If majority rule applied to all natural things, then water bodies would win the bid for status and recognition hands down, making up 71% of the planet, providing a habitat for 50% of all species, providing large volumes of oxygen and being the conveyor belt for climate. It was the production of oxygen in the oceans in prehistoric Earth that created the atmosphere and enabled diverse life. This makes water bodies integral to life on earth, sustaining the atmosphere with moisture, keeping the planet cool enough, acting as a carbon sequester, ensuring the hydrologic/water cycle is constant and providing an invaluable protein supply to humans. It has taken humans just two hundred years to destroy the natural equilibrium that nature has established to keep the cycles going, the crisis disequilibrium we are facing is that of climate change, the human-induced radical changes to our climate system globally.
However, decreasing pH levels in the water bodies caused by increased carbon dioxide levels are making water bodies more acidic. This acidification process has numerous consequences on marine ecosystems, marine life and the water users. This environmental issue is a direct impact of excessive production of Carbon dioxide by humans.
Carbon dioxide reaches the oceans through various industrial and agricultural sources; and is a top toxic greenhouse gas (GHG). The water bodies Carbon dioxide levels were balanced prior to reckless human industrialisation without consequence, wreaking ecological havoc. Now much of the polluting industrial technological choices and processes continue unabated in Uganda.
Ozone Layer Depletion:
Ozone layer is a layer of gas that sits 25-30 km above earth’s surface. It mainly contains contain ozone which is a naturally occurring molecule containing three oxygen atoms. This layer is present in the stratosphere and prevents too many harmful UV (ultra violet) radiations from entering the earth. Ozone layer is capable of absorbing 97-99% of the harmful ultraviolet radiations that are emitted by sun.
However, during last several decades, human and industrial activity has contributed a lot which has resulted in considerable reduction in the ozone layer of the atmosphere. The main cause of depletion of ozone layer is determined as excessive release of chlorine and bromine from man-made compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), halons, CH3CCl3 (Methyl chloroform), CCl4 (Carbon tetrachloride), HCFCs (hydro-chlorofluorocarbons), hydrobromofluorocarbons and methyl bromide are found to have direct impact on the depletion of the ozone layer.
Acid Rain:
Acid rain simply means rain that is acidic in nature due to the presence of certain pollutants in the atmosphere. These pollutants come in the atmosphere due to car or industrial processes or due to combustion of fossil fuels or erupting volcanoes or rotting vegetation which release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Acid rain can occur in form of rain, snow, fog or dry material that settle to earth. Acid rain can have devastating effects on aquatic life, forests, human/public health and architecture and buildings.
Urban Sprawl:
Urban sprawl refers to migration of population from high density urban areas to low density rural areas which results in spreading of city over more and more rural land. Urban sprawl results in land degradation, increased traffic, environmental issues and health issues. The ever growing demand of land displaces natural environment consisting of flora and fauna instead of being replaced.
Public Health Issues:
The current environmental problems pose a lot of risk to health of humans, and animals. Dirty water is the biggest health risk of the world and poses threat to the quality of life and public health. Run-off to rivers carries along toxins, chemicals and disease carrying organisms. Pollutants cause respiratory disease like Asthma and cardiac-vascular problems. High temperatures encourage the spread of infectious diseases like Dengue.
Genetic Engineering:
Genetic modification of food using biotechnology is called genetic engineering. Genetic modification of food results in increased toxins and diseases as genes from an allergic plant can transfer to target plant. Genetically modified crops can cause serious environmental problems as an engineered gene may prove toxic to wildlife. Another drawback is that increased use of toxins to make insect resistant plant can cause resultant organisms to become resistant to antibiotics.
Desertification
Desertification is the process by which habitable and fertile land turns into desert. Desertification can occur as a result of both destructive use of the land by humans and variations in climate, with possible causes including drought, deforestation and overgrazing.
Desertification is occurring in the northern part of our country Uganda and is affecting the livelihoods of millions of people by the reduction or loss of biological or economic productivity. Traditionally, this harsh environment forced northern Uganda people live a livelihood based on a mixture of hunting, gathering, farming and herding that was very suitable for this sort of environment.
Looking to the future, this process of desertification is expected to increase. Poverty and the unsustainable use of land will continue to be the main factors driving this. Climate change is an important factor that is linked to desertification, but its impacts will vary according to the region and the management approach that is adopted. Hence in order to stay ahead of desertification and lessen the combined effects of climatic variations and human activity, it is important for us Ugandans to improve agricultural and grazing practices in a sustainable way. There must be a fresh way of thinking. What has been called a ''culture of prevention'' must be created, involving changes of attitude in both government and population.
Conclusion
In summary, we notice that our country and planet at large is poised at the brink of a severe environmental crisis. Current environmental problems make us vulnerable to disasters and tragedies, now and in the future. We are in a state of planetary emergency, with the above environmental problems piling up high around us. Unless we address the various issues prudently and seriously we are surely doomed for more disasters.
In my view, current environmental problems require urgent attention through the following;
Conservation/Environment movements
Conservation is a broad term and can be almost interchangeable with the idea of the environmental movement as a whole. Almost all environmentalists want to conserve the natural environment. Conservation is also probably the oldest idea in the environmental movement.
Me and you can call ourselves the Ugandan modern conservationists; and we must be inspired (look for wisdom) from the early ideas, and those of other societies, for example the Native Americans and Australian Aboriginals (Aboriginal) who have at least had a more harmonious and less exploitative relationship with the natural world, while still relying on it for their livelihood. Ugandans must therefore copy a leaf from different philosophical giants of the Environment movements like the American writer Henry David Thoreau, who is often referred to as the Father of Environmentalism, and the British designer and thinker William Morris, who saw the industrial cities of the Victorian age as unnatural and alienating man from nature. All the above social and environmental movements, address environmental issues through advocacy, education and activism to attain Environmental protection.
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the natural environment on individual, organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the environment and humans. Due to the pressures of overconsumption, population and technology, the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently. This has been recognized, and governments have begun placing restraints on activities that cause environmental degradation. Since the 1960s, activity of environmental movements has created awareness of the various environmental issues. There is no agreement on the extent of the environmental impact of human activity and even scientific dishonesty occurs, so protection measures are occasionally debated.
The need for change in our daily lives and the movements of our government is growing. Because so many different factors come into play; voting, governmental issues, the desire to stick to routine, many people don’t consider that what they do will affect future generations. If humans continue moving forward in such a harmful way towards the future, then there will be no future to consider. Although it’s true that we cannot physically stop our ozone layer from thinning (and scientists are still having trouble figuring out what is causing it exactly,) there are still so many things we can do to try and put a dent in what we already know.
By raising awareness in your local community and within your families about these issues, you can help contribute to a more environmentally conscious and friendly place for you to live.
I wish you all A happy, Prosperous and Environmental friendly 2018.
Thank you for reading this message.
Pascal Ssentumbwe, Centre for Climate Change Innovations.
