Uganda: is culture daunting fight on climate change?

Uganda: is culture daunting fight on climate change?

Written by Abet Tonny

Endowed with over 56 tribes untamed and celebrating their different cultures and tongues, Uganda is discernibly a hard to influence the country. 

That community with shared values and beliefs generate their own views to interpret unfolding of life is an obvious fact. But these views produced are determinants of how these communities respond to emerging threats and risks. Also, these locally generated views command far-reaching influence on the uptake of (scientific) evidence being communicated with the focus of causing the change of action among members of these communities. 

No wonder, Uganda has had a long history fighting negative cultural beliefs that hindered several development moves. This among other factors has slowed down economic development in the country. A clear example is the early 19s event when people associated with AIDS with witchcraft. Culture ushered in this belief. Several thousands of lives perished untimely owing to the ill belief as people refused to seek clinical treatment. Intensified campaigns collectively supported by government, development partners and community stakeholders since gained fairly good influence. More people are testing for HIV and pregnant mothers cooperating to end mother-child transmission of the virus. This is putting HIV/AIDS under appreciable control. 

Climate change has since trickled into our country tormenting rural and urban areas with such invariance. Extreme scarcity and unpredictability of rainfall, extra-high temperatures are doing nothing else but causing enormous crop failure and lowering general farm productivity. And when it decides to rain, it's often nothing but a monstrous flood causing landslides, destroying farmlands and disfiguring human settlements in rural and urban areas. In March 2019, severe drought culminated into death of several hundreds of cattle in Nakasongola, Uganda. Also, a terrible flood killed and displaced several people in Uganda's Kampala city this May 2019. 

Wetland reclamation is one of the causes of climate change being experienced in the country and globe. Unraveling how wetland reclamation causes climate change, a wetland ecologist Prof. Jos Verhoeven of Netherlands' Utrecht University explains in simple terms.

"Agriculture has been carried out in several types of (former) wetlands for millennia, with crop fields on river floodplain soils and rice fields as major examples." He continues that the intensive agricultural use of drained/reclaimed peatlands (soils with a high deposit of organic matter left by passing water) has been shown to lead to major problems because of the oxidation and subsidence of the peat soil. The ecologist concluded by revealing that this does not only lead to severe carbon dioxide emissions."

Severe carbon dioxide emissions cause an increase in global temperature which in turn leads to the general changes in the climatic condition we are experiencing in our country.

It is clear that climate change is real and is a big threat to our country but our response will determine how much negative impact it throws onto our state of food security, public health, and urban development. The response will, however, be greatly influenced by our cultural and religious alignment.


Gulu incidence

Recently Uganda Radio network reported locals in Gulu, Uganda threatening to gun down environmentalists if they continue hindering them from reclaiming wetland. Wetland encroachment is not unique to Gulu. According to NEMA, though debatable, Uganda loses 2% (751 square kilometers) of wetland annually.

An earlier field visit to Gulu left me soul-searching hearing about spirited threats on environmentalists by locals. Intended at discovering cultural resources available to avert climate change, the study visit was supported by The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda to Pawel clan of Acholi tribe in Gulu.  

In Acholi cultural belief system, just like in Lango and other tribes in Uganda, climate change is largely attributed to the annoyance of God (gods). Acholi tradition imputes changing the climate to "the annoyance of gods of the land especially Baka, Kijur and Kilak" to inequities of the people. A large number of people -common men align with this concept. This means environmentalists sell conflicting information as they deliver a scientific concept to this community.

A little deeper about our conversation, the elders further revealed that these inequities are acts like killing of innocent people; killing and burying of dogs and killing of tortoises are things that annoy gods enough to withhold rain; cutting papyrus during rainy season; sharpening of grinding stone during day time is also annoying gods to alter the weather and that the world has rotated to drier side of the atmosphere.

It was only the element of the god's annoyance with people who cut papyrus before it's dry season and destroying mountain bamboos that aligned a bit with the concept of environmental safeguard. The gods are perceived to react to the destruction of specific tree and animal species in the land. 

Acholi people are some of the few tribes in Uganda who pay very strong allegiance to their culture. Bringing them to appreciate a new concept like the scientific concept of climate change is cracking another hard nut.

To meet our goal of discovering cultural resources available in Acholi culture to mitigate climate change, bamboo and papyrus conservation precipitated. But the next question was, is this really sufficient to respond promptly to heightened threat of climate change in our nation and planet?

And finally to answer whether culture is playing a daunting effect on climate change mitigation fight, please pass your verdict.

About the Author: Abet Tonny is a science communication strategist and writer. 

Reference:


1. ScienceDirect: Climate Change, Values, and the cultural cognition thesis
2. Annals of Botany: Agricultural use of wetlands: opportunities and limitations
3. Uganda Radio Network: Gulu residents threaten to gun down environmentalists
4. NTV Uganda: Cattle perish in Nakasongola due to drought

Aton Solar Fruit Dryers: Northern Uganda Sustainable Hunger Solution

Photo Credit: Nuts.com

Aton Solar Fruit Dryers: Northern Uganda Sustainable Hunger Solution

Written by Abet Tonny

Elsewhere in the world, some people are drowning in flood whilst in Lango sub-region found in northern part of Uganda, it has now been 7 months of drought, skin-roasting heat, hunger and misery. In March 2018, temperature in Lango went to as high as 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Lango has 1.5 million people and over 90% of the populations rely on farming as major source of livelihood. It had rained for some two days last month -March 2019, few confident farmers had proceeded planted their hybrid seeds following advise from the National Meteorological Authority but to their utter heartbreak when no single rain drop was experienced henceforth. Farmers lost hundred millions of shillings. 

The prices of food grains like maize and beans  -the most consumed food grains in Lango, have sky rocketed with a kilogram of beans going for as high as $0.7 in local currency. Consider the basic fact that the largest number of families in Lango live on less than $1 a day reveals that the all struggle is now feeding, a huge number of children have stopped schooling,for there is no money to pay school fees. Several families can hardly afford a meal a day. With this prolonged sunshine and furious heat, hunger, misery and hopelessness rage even more in this community recovering from 20 years of LRA insurgency 

Child nutrition is the most threatened by this climate change castigated hunger. These children should attend school daily and excel but with empty stomach, this is nothing but a wild dream. According to USAID,  "In Uganda, 2.2 million children under 5 years (29 percent) are stunted because of malnutrition." Unlike adults, a child's body highly demands food to meet bodies growth needs. Robust child nutrition has also been proven to contribute highly to a child's academic excellence, general creativity in life  due to well built brain and body health during childhood and adulthood. But with this raging hunger in the sub-region, there is no hope for children as the government program to promote feeding in school failed to be implemented in major corners of the nation.

Fortunately, after 7 months, the mango season has reached in the sub-region. Children feel relieved as they can have something to negotiate with the stomach's urge for food. The season often lasting for a mere 1 month and children are brought back to usual misery as close to 50% of the mangoes ripening go to waste. There is no available technology to store for longer time or process the mangoes as they almost ripen at the same time.

Aton Wellness has a solution for this. For 5 years now, Aton had been innovating sustainable technologies for farmers including this Solar Fruit Dryers. The dryer is long lasting simple technology with heat concentration, air blowing and drying units where sliced fruits are placed and in 2 days they are fully dry. The dried fruit retains the natural taste and sensation of the parent fruit and can be stored for up to 5 years. Several fruits can be dried using this technology not limited to; mango, jack fruit, banana and pineapple. It takes only 30 minutes to learn how to operate and maintain this Aton Solar Fruit Dryer machine. Very affordable and fit for use even for those remote areas or illiterate users.

Aton Solar Fruit Dryer

Fruits like mangoes are very rich sources of sugar in hunger situation helping boost the energy level. However, fruits are majorly consumed for the anti-oxidants -cancer preventing nutrients in them and Vitamin C which helps in making our skin smooth and good looking. Solar dried fruits retain all these nutritious components.

                        

               See 7 surprising nutritional benefits of eating dried mangoes>>>HERE

Aton Solar Fruit Dryer technology can thus be a great boost for families who value the health of their members as it secures consumption of these healthy fruits beyond the natural ripening season.

Line government agencies and NGOs in nutrition, health and livelihood can promote this technology among local people as they hail the creativity of Uganda's own youth in bringing sustainable food solutions to the nation and globe.

Please feel free to leave a comment below.