The Vanishing of Bees

GETTY IMAGES

Of all insect-pollinated crops across the global agricultural community, bees contribute 73% of the pollination success. However, the population of these incredible honey-making insects is shrinking at such a drastic rate. Ecologists forecast a great hit on the agricultural sector as nutritionists worry over a skyrocketing price of honey -the nature's ultimate sweet health hub. 

In the U.S, National Agricultural Statistics show a honey bee decline from about 6 million hives in 1947 to 2,4 million in 2008, a 60 % reduction barely in the last 60 years.

Pest management is such a major issue in the agricultural sector. The pests are estimated to be causing at least some 55% crop losses annually. This is a huge loss to the farmers -the sustainers of humanity. Cases of pest attacks such as the fall armyworm caused up to 100% crop losses among some farmers in Africa's Uganda in 2017.

In many instances, the garden infestation of pests is one of the top upsetting incidences that farmers face in their entire gardening career. The pests attacks often get so overwhelming that the farmers start to view every insect as some bad or dangerous crop devourer evil enough to be killed. And the pesticide has always brought farmers such great relieve. A one time spray often guarantees a week or two of a peaceful mind. The assurance that the crops are pest-free and that the nightmare of economic loss has been paused and eliminated is so rewarding to the mind of a farmer whether subsistence or commercial in practicing.

Unfortunately, during the application of these pesticides, the farmers both voluntarily and ignorantly never recognise that whilst there're numerous of those bad insects flickering around in their garden, but also, there're some absolutely essential ones. The pollinators are these essential insects. A number of our crops rely on these pollinators to form their fruits -that we'll inturn call harvest. Soybean, beans, cabbages, tomatoes, cotton, sunflower, and over 800 other crops depend on these pollinators.

Why pollination is not only a scientific term but is central to the success of your farming 

So what is pollination? Well, this is the process by which male sex cells of a plant fertilizes female sex cells of a plant -it's some sort of sexual intercourse between plants or their flowers occurring without your notice. This human-nutrition-sustaining intercourse, however, requires intermediaries to make it a success. The bees are most crucial of many insects that make pollination possible.

How pollination happens

Crop plants that rely on insects bloom out with beautiful coloured flowers. Just as flowers fascinate humans, so are bees thrilled by them as they fly around.  The vast shades of tempting colours and irresistible sweet scents win the heart of the bee into paying a courtesy visit to the flower. Upon successfully being lured into the flower, the flower goes ahead to reward the bee with sweet nectar. This reward of nectar has sustained the bee-flower relationship since plants emerged on the face of the earth.  After sucking the nectar from the flower, the bee flies back to the hive or their colonies.

Strangely, during the struggle to suck as much, the extra sweet nectar for making honey, the bee will transfer the pollen -a male sex cell we talked about earlier -often seen as a yellowish powdery material in a flower, to the stigma -the part of the flower with female sex cell. When this phenomenal transfer is made, a child called a seed and eventually a fruit is unsurprisingly conceived. The fruit then grows into harvest we pick at the end of the season in tomatoes or soybean.

A poorly pollinated watermelon looks like that on the right and a farmer loses. This happens when the bees were too scarce to pollinate the flowers. Pesticide sprays can scare away the bees from coming to pollinate of crops and the economic impact can be high. Sadly, more farmers are experiencing pollinator scarcity.

The threat

Unfortunately, the bees are vanishing and crop pollination is going down. This is leading to shrinking volume in crop harvest. There is also a great increase in volumes of low-grade grains and unmarketable-sized fruits. The major cause is pesticide use. The pesticides not only kill the pests like fruit flies or aphids destroying our crops but they also kill the bees -our ultimate crop pollinator.

How can we protect the population of bees? Let's reduce and where possible stop synthetic pesticide usage. They kill the bees, the innocent and highly valuable insect for our gardens.

There are great alternatives like use of organic repellants. Leaves of the neem tree, cloves of garlic, oranges, and onions (learn how this works) will keep our crops safe from the pests whilst keeping the population of the bees rising to assure us of better crop yield every season. Ozone Biotech does international sales of organic pesticides -pesticides that never kill bees.

The second way is to plant more flowers around our homes and town areas to keep the bees replenished.

The last and most incredible way is to spare some little space and put beehives. Not only will you be harvesting fresh natural honey every after 3 months but you will be sustaining the population of bees to heighten your crop yields seasonally.

The article is written by Abet Tonny, a Ugandan science writer.
Also, feel free to write to me tonnyabet@gmail.com.

Biodiversity and Pesticide; will there ever be a trade-off?

This writer of this article examines the global trend of pesticide usage and its heightening threat to biodiversity. And it ends with the proposition of a more pragmatic approach to quicken the drive to conserve the world's environment. The writer assumes that the reader understands the various forms of pesticide; the insecticide we use at home to those used in our gardens make part of pesticide.

December 2, 1984, is one of those dark days remembered in India, all because of pesticide. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), American owned chemical manufacturer based in India threw into irreversible despair, the locals in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The incident where supposed negligence from a Corporation employee led to the explosion of highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) -a gas used in the manufacture of carbamate pesticide.

At least 40 tons of MIC gas was released into the atmosphere, a venomous gas that settled above as thick cloud covering over 78 square kilometers of India's Bhopal. Tragically, while in the atmosphere, the MIC gas would eventually turn into a severely lethal hydrogen cyanide gas. At least 5,100 people perished by the gas and over 50,000 more locals got permanently injured with blindness and lung damage.

The compensation for victims has not only been too low but not fully met either. Dow Chemical Company would later buy off UCC in 2001. The psychological and economic impacts of Bhopal disaster are still felt to date in India.

The global trend of pesticide 

Pesticides revolution started way back in 1939 when the German entomologist, Paul Muller discovered that DDT could actually be used as an insecticide. Muller's revelation would see DDT used in the second portion of World War II to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops. And by the end of World War, DDT was available in several countries for sale as agricultural and household pesticide.

Since Muller's discovery, over 1,055 other pesticide ingredients have since been introduced by scientists into the world commerce.

The world is experiencing an unrelenting rise in the volume of pesticide manufactured and used. Agricultural production has been the major inducer and sustainer of this, besides the public health sector. FAO has some amazing visuals to illustrate the trend. The global pesticide market stood at $58.46 billion in 2015 and in 2017, BBC Research, estimated it at $61.2 billion projecting a terrifying rise to $79.3 billion by 2022. Several million tons of pesticide are thus expected to be thrown into the world's already hurting and helpless ecosystem. This pains the environmental activists but somehow they keep the fight on!

Aside from the lamentation, let's examine why pesticide has enjoyed this jolly ride amidst decades of outcry from naturalists and environmental activists for its terrible damages to the precious ecosystem.

Whether a product or service gains or loses dominance in any market system is always attributable to the extent by which its users feel the sense of satisfaction. Though possessing multiple flaws, the pesticide has built a powerful name for itself by consistently satisfying its users. Whether in killing fruit flies on watermelon crops in the garden or riding off the bedbugs in a home, the pesticide has always been handy with multiple varieties to choose from.

This brings us to the fundamental question, are the alternatives being offered in a logical confrontation of pesticides economically more viable and capable of out-competing its rival?  The answers will always waver. Organic repellants, pest vacuuming technology and other biological solution propositions by naturalists and environmental activists have arguably not made it to market dominance because of their low economic viability to attract large investments.

Let's briefly explore what the proponents of pesticide usage (PPU) have always believed.

"Pesticides are faster acting compared to most of the alternatives presented by pro-environment campaigners," argue the PPU as their primary stand. Perhaps you can weigh it, but I think it has some substance.

Secondly, the PPU says the synthetic pesticides have demonstrated unmatched value by preventing insect-transmitted diseases like malaria and sleeping sickness. Several million premature deaths from malaria have been prevented through indoor residual sprays. I leave this to your verification.

Thirdly, these proponents postulate that these pesticides have also increased food supplies and lowered food costs globally through stopping the crop-damaging pests. Crop pests destroy up to 55% of the world's potential human food. A lot to argue about here!

And finally, they back up their product saying, "Synthetic pesticides have also increased profits of the farmer," adding,  "a $1 investment in pesticide results in $4 yield in terms of harvest." There is a lot to argue about here.

From an unbiased point of view, a number of these claims from the PPU have logical and statistical evidence to back up. Pragmatically commenting, pulling down volumes of pesticide usage with scientific arguments will be slow.  I mean by showcasing dangers it has and is causing to our environment will achieve very slowly, the greatly yearned mass action to save the global environment. This is partly because, for decades, the world has used these "toxic" pesticides and somehow with the usual belief of "better with the devil you know than an angel you don't know," the global community is a bit so reluctant to learn newer and "safer" methods even as environmental activists pitch alarms.

We all appreciate the flip side of these pesticides. They do not only kill the target pests, but several millions of beneficial non-target organisms like bees and soil microbes are also destroyed annually from the pesticide sprays and fumigations. The pesticide residues directly consumed by a man from pesticide-treated or exposed fruits, vegetables, and grains account for multiple other cases of cancer, reproductive and neurological disorders entangling the current human population.

Scientists have been at the forefront talking about biodiversity and the matchless need to conserve nature, but with very limited success to showcase as the bulging pesticide market confirms. Yet, the much-desired global revolution or major reforms to protect the living environment of humanity should be handled as an emergency.

A more realistic proposition

I uphold the fight to conserve the environment, banning or posing a stronger restriction on pesticide usage should be conceived with centrality. But somehow, I still find myself restrained because the many alternatives to pesticides have a number of unanswered questions to address before one can confidently bank on. Questions about their boundless and mass applicability, and the economic viability can never be underrated. A class of people fears that banning or raising stronger restrictions on pesticide may worsen global food insecurity, public health problems and above all rural poverty.

Now, this is the point I'm driving home: better environmental safeguard will be faster and better achieved with a stronger moral/ethical proposition, but with a mild back up of scientific evidence. By moral proposition, I mean bringing humans to grasp ecocentrism where they appreciate that the environment is not only made for them to sap and devour but that they make part of it. In that those wild trees, birds, animals, rivers and oceans are equally so important to sustain each other as non-conflicting members of a divine system called an ecosystem. Use of dangerous pesticide, though cheap will thus mean they're destabilizing the rewarding system. Though it will take a little more cost, investing in environmentally friendly pest control approaches thus means securing the peace of the living environment we form part.

The moral or ethical proposition tables a win-win situation for both humans and the environment. For instance, linked to heightened pesticide use, the population of bees and other beneficial insects have drastically reduced and this is posing great threat to global crop yield and overall food security as the pollinators for our crops vanish.

With a moral proposition, programs and projects advocating for environmental protection will require religious, cultural and political leaders be brought to the center stage, in a multi-stakeholder approach along with scientists. A moral or ethical approach to environmental conservation is solely a trade-off between science and humanity. Scientists are excellent in their 'science' and these religious, cultural and religious leaders have carved unmatched history moving humanity to action. Perfectly good actions and extremely bad ones like genocide have always been made possible by and through these class of people.

There is also much that the developing world has been able to change or achieve through involving this class of people more closely. Fighting HIV in Africa had to employ much of their input for better statistical outcomes.

Communicating to cause 'change' is just as important as having the knowledge of why that 'change' is needed. Environmental scientists have much of the knowledge bit. The religious, cultural and political leaders have both the people (audience) and prowess in change communication.


Essay by Abet Tonny, a Ugandan science writer.

SCIENCE JOURNAL AFRICA: Top 3 signs of Liver Problem to Watch Out For

SCIENCE JOURNAL AFRICA: Top 3 signs of Liver Problem to Watch Out For: Photo credit: fastprovenhealth.com Article by Abet Tonny Earlier, we discovered five incredible things that make the liver a very es...

Top 3 signs of Liver Problem to Watch Out For

Photo credit: fastprovenhealth.com

Article by Abet Tonny

Earlier, we discovered five incredible things that make the liver a very essential body organ. And well, in the next 3 minutes we are unearthing red-light signs you could be having a liver problem -better call it a disease. Wasting no time let's kick start.

Nausea & Vomiting

It's obvious for some people to feel nausea and or vomit a bit if they're traveling, this is a medical condition called motion sickness. Utterly annoying to fellow passengers in a bus, but as humans, we ought to sympathize with these chronic sufferers of motion sickness! Motion sickness is caused by disturbance of the inner ear by the movement of a vehicle or any other movements that the brain receives conflicting messages from the inner ear and other body receptors like eyes and skin. We shall discuss motion sickness in depth later.

Depression and anxiety also illicit nausea and vomiting urge, avoid these two always.

What about the one caused by liver disease? When nausea and vomiting occur separately or together without any known reason, you ought to get really concerned. Persistent feeling of nausea arises from the diminished ability of the liver to process and eliminate toxins engulfing our body.

General weakness & Tiredness

We discovered the liver is very important in break down of food nutrients into required energy packages to sustain the activeness, vigor, and energy we need to push on with life either at work or chatting with loved ones.

Unfortunately, when diseased, the energy packages become fewer reflected as a weakness. This condition is worsened by the increase in toxic products in the blood through junk foods, consuming pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits and the likes. This ''worsened state" is because the damaged liver with only a few portions of it functioning can't eliminate these toxins efficiently.

Loss of Appetite 

Undigested food causes a loss of appetite. And this loss of appetite is one of the early signs of a liver problem. We earlier learned the liver produces an important substance called bile; bile is essential in the break down of fat so that it can be made useful to the body. When fat or any other food we've eaten lies dormant in the stomach or intestine not broken down, the body deliberately refuses to yearn for any more food...and we call it the loss of appetite. And why the body decides to act this way still perplexes scientists.


Other notable signs of a diseased liver include changes in urine colour, abdominal cramp and fluid retention manifesting as swelling of feet and ankles.

When these signs manifest uniformly, it's high time you consult your doctor. You may also love to see Best 3 foods of all time for cleansing the liver.


If this article inspired you, please share with friends on social media using the "share" button below.


About the Writer: Abet Tonny is a health professional, specialist science writer, and digital marketing. He enjoys wild tours and celebrating Man Utd wins.

Best 3 Liver cleansing foods of all time in Uganda

Written by Abet Tonny

The liver is one of the most endangered organs in the body of a 21st-century human. Weighing just about 1.5 kg in healthy adults, the liver is one of the body's most vital organs. But as people's lifestyle and diet change, hepatologists -liver specialists, forecast a darker destiny for human liver. To these hepatologists, the liver is getting greatly overworked making the human liver dreadfully inefficient in guaranteeing the vastly pursued -higher life expectancy for humanity.

Obesity is one lifestyle disease which has dramatically increased in the last three decades. Obesity crashes the liver's proper functioning and lowers its general efficiency through deposition of unnecessary fat.

However, some people's liver is ill-functioning and inefficient because of medications -side effects. Pain killers, drugs for heart diseases and antipsychotic drugs have been linked to causation of liver diseases and thus lower its efficiency.

Briefly, let's see why the liver is considered paramount in a human body:

• Removing toxins from the body. We are exposed to some much toxic substances like residues of pesticide on the tomatoes from we purchase from local markets, those from prescription drugs and food additives among others.
• Ensuring the fat we enjoy in fried chicken and pork is properly digested and transformed into tiny materials used to generate energy, insulate our body and improve our reproduction functioning.
• Producing the energy for the body.
• Improving body immunity.
• Storing nutrients for future use in the body.

It is thus obvious that your liver is so important for longer life. And here are the top 3 foods that nutritionists have proven effective in cleansing the liver of toxins and increasing its general efficiency.

1. Garlic

Rich in glutathione -a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals and detoxifies the liver, the working of garlic in liver cleansing is excellent.

Eat 2-3 garlic cloves daily. Also, use garlic in your daily cooking whenever possible.

2. Grapefruit or Orange

This fruit is very rich in vitamin C, pectin and antioxidants. These substances enclosed in grapefruit are very efficient in ridding of toxins tormenting the liver.

Drink a small glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice or enjoy the whole fruit with your breakfast daily to preserve you energized and healthy.

3. Beetroots

High in flavonoids and beta-carotene, the two substances that stimulate and improve general liver functioning. 

Add fresh beetroots or juice to your daily meals.

Make a super-liver-cleansing salad with 1 cup of chopped or blended beetroots, 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Mix well, enjoy 3 times daily to perfect your liver health and efficiency.

If this article was beneficial, please share with friends on social media with buttons below.

About the writer: Abet Tonny is a health professional and long-time science writer in Uganda.

SCIENCE JAF: Top 8 ways to prevent breast cancer

SCIENCE JAF: Top 8 ways to prevent breast cancer:   Top 8 ways to prevent breast cancer Written by   Abet Tonny Long before they get their first pimple, budding breasts remind ...

Top 8 ways to prevent breast cancer

 Top 8 ways to prevent breast cancer

Written by  Abet Tonny

Long before they get their first pimple, budding breasts remind them they're women in training. They want them to grow bigger, they wish they would stop growing. It can be mind-twisting seeing others too small others flatter whilst others are round like ball -and definitely why even responsible family-men can't resist staring at them.

Bigger or smaller, breasts still remain an incredible part of a female -one of the most fascinating occurrences on females that do not only define their feminism but symbolize the magnificent out-pour of a woman's beauty. 

"I remember crying in the bathtub. I took a washcloth, made it hot, put it over my chest and prayed, ‘Please don't let them grow any bigger. They're embarrassing me.' I was the first girl in my class to wear a bra. All my friends were super skinny, and that just wasn't my body type. But I watched my mum, who was always comfortable with herself, and she helped me with my outlook.'' Kim Kardashian -American celebrity in one of her stunning revelations.

According to WHO, 7.6 million people died from cancer in 2008, and in 2018, 9.6 million deaths from cancer were recorded. This is a sharp increase in the number of deaths by over 2 million -a lot of people! And WHO projects nearly 11 million people dying from cancer annually by 2030. 

But there is a way out! So here are the top 8 bullets that will save you from breast cancer.

1. Keep Weight in Check

It’s easy to tune out because it gets said so often, but maintaining a healthy weight is an important goal for everyone. Being overweight can increase the risk of many different cancers, including breast cancer, especially after menopause.

2. Be Physically Active

Exercise is as close to a silver bullet for good health as there is, and women who are physically active for at least 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer. Regular exercise is also one of the best ways to help keep weight in check.

3. Eat Nuts, Fruits & Vegetables 

A healthy diet can help lower the risk of breast cancer.  Try to eat nuts, a lot of fruits and vegetables and keep alcohol at moderate levels or lower.

4. Don’t Smoke

Smokers and non-smokers alike know how unhealthy smoking is.  On top of lowering quality of life and increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and at least 15 cancers – including breast cancer – it also causes smelly breath, bad teeth, and wrinkles. Now that’s motivation to stay smoke-free or work to get smoke-free.

5. Breastfeed, If Possible

Breastfeeding for a total of one year or more (combined for all children) lowers the risk of breast cancer. It also has great health benefits for the child.

6. Avoid Birth Control Pills, Particularly After Age 35 or If You Smoke

Birth control pills have both risks and benefits. The younger a woman is, the lower the risks are. While women are taking birth control pills, they have a slightly increased risk of breast cancer. This risk goes away quickly, though, after stopping the pill. The risk of stroke and heart attack is also increased while on the pill – particularly if a woman smokes. However, long-term use can also have important benefits, like lowering the risk of ovarian cancer, colon cancer, and uterine cancer – not to mention unwanted pregnancy – so there’s also a lot in its favor. If you’re very concerned about breast cancer, avoiding birth control pills is one option to lower risk.

7. Avoid Post-Menopausal Hormones

Post-menopausal hormones shouldn’t be taken a long term to prevent chronic diseases, like osteoporosis and heart disease. Studies show they have a mixed effect on health, increasing the risk of some diseases and lowering the risk of others, and both estrogen-only hormones and estrogen-plus-progestin hormones increase the risk of breast cancer. If women do take post-menopausal hormones, it should be for the shortest time possible. The best person to talk to about the risks and benefits of post-menopausal hormones is your doctor.

8. Tamoxifen and Raloxifene for Women at High Risk

Although not commonly thought of as a “healthy

behavior,” taking the prescription drugs tamoxifen

and raloxifene can significantly lower the risk of

breast cancer in the woman at high risk of the disease.

Approved by the Drugs Authority for breast cancer prevention,

these powerful drugs can have side effects, so

they aren’t right for everyone. If you think you’re

at high risk, talk to your doctor to see if tamoxifen or raloxifene may be right for you.

About the Author: Abet Tonny is a science communication strategist and writer
You can write to him-tonnyabet@gmail.com

SCIENCE JAF: What really causes Breast Cancer??? _by Tony Abet

SCIENCE JAF: What really causes Breast Cancer??? _by Tony Abet: It was a heart-throbbing scene witnessing this great friend, a mother of two, Jackline at 32 years of age, helplessly give her last brea...

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