Environmental Future

When we talk about environmental future of a country, we are trying to envision the state of nature and our human relationship with it in the future. We are interested in our human relationships with nature in all the dimensions of the environment: ecological-biological, sociocultural, socioeconomic and temporal. However, since President Tibuhaburwa Museveni declared his philosophy of development emphasising infrastructure development at the expense of environmental development and nature, and extricating Ugandans from the environment and nature, environmental decay and collapse are rising supersonically, best seen in country-wide environmental poverty, climate change, food shortages and a snake-like hunger wave.

Interestingly, Omagor Markson (2022), citing Mafabi’s article “Government is ready for
environmental restoration”, emphasising that the government will share strategies for the
restoration of the environment and natural resources”. Mafabi was referring to President
Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s statement that the dependence on rainfall and the degraded
ecosystem poses jeopardy to Uganda’s economy in the face of climate challenges. According
to Mafabi, the President said “Government will come up with a plan to fully restore our
environment here. Once we are done, you will see the environment (Mafabi, 2022). The
President made the announcement during the closing ceremony of the National Scouts Camp
that started on August 12th at the scouts’ home in Kaazi, Wakiso District. However, todate
the President has not shown that he is ready to recant his development philosophy, which is
responsible for most of the recent environmental degradation in Uganda.

President Tibuhaburwa Museveni in Environmental Decay and Collapse

Apparently, the President himself, by virtue of his decisions and actions, is at the centre of
environmental decay and collapse. He has allowed people belonging to the nomadic pastoral
energy system (the nomads of Rwandese extraction) to grab land everywhere in Uganda,
destroying our time-tested agroecological systems, on which our food security has depended
for centuries. He has allowed soldiers to illegally log tress in our natural forests, including the
only rain forest we have – Mabira Rain Forest. It was him personally who engineered the
destruction of Mabira Rain Forest by giving 7100 hectares of Mabira ecotone land to Mehta’s
Sugar factory. It was his who decreed that sugarcane be grown in the Bugoma Forest Corridor
in Bunyoro, thereby destroying the migratory routes of wildlife. It was him who decreed that
10,000 ha of natural forest be felled on Bugala Island in Kalangala District in favour of the
false tree (oil palm) to produce palm oil at a time when the world is yearning for a fat-free
diet. It was him who decreed that Bujagali Falls on River Nile be orated in favour of hydropower, reasoning thaw if the Uganda’s did not have money to buy the electricity he would sell it to neighbouring countries. It was him who oversaw the springing up of numerous plastics factories in Uganda. Last but not least, it was him who decreed that industrial parks are established in swampy areas, thereby triggering the phenomenon of manmade floods for which there is no solution currently. Therefore, it is difficult these days to explain environmental decay and collapse without evoking President Tibuhaburwa
Museveni. His policies, which he initiates himself and then retrospectively legitimises as
government policies by giving them legal force, are likely to be remembered as the real force
behind environmental decay and collapse in Uganda towards and in the 21st century.

Wastage of Environmental Professionalism is a Threat to Uganda’s Environmental
Future

In my retirement, I frequently reflect on why I became the third professional conservation
biologist in Uganda, and why I spent years training conservationists and environmentalists at
Makerere University, Uganda. Because of the presidentialism of President Tibuhaburwa
Museveni, whereby he is in everything small and big, these are unable to apply their
professionalism to the conservation and management of Uganda’s environment. They only do
the bidding of the President. Nevertheless, the university education system continues to
academicise the environment and environmental conservation and management just to
produce papered graduates. As if this is not bad enough, President Tibuhaburwa Museveni
controls the National Budget making, in such a way that military security, State House take
far more money than health, social development, environment, environmental health,
environmental security and environmental development. Yet, everything else fails if the
environmental foundations are weak or jeopardised. The political perception of environment
as just something for exploitation to satisfy human greed and needs must change if we are to
make any headway in the 21st century and beyond.

Uganda has lost 41.6% of its forest cover in the last 100 years (1921-2021). In 1900,
Uganda’s forest cover stood at 54% and by 2017, it stood at a miserable 12.4%. There is
consistent pressure on land for cultivation and settlement and increasing demand for wood
fuel. While efforts have been made to restore the forest cover, the population has not been
adequately involved in this restoration process. It is against this background that we address
climate change and deforestation as global problems that require a global response. 94% of
Ugandans rely on unsustainably sourced fuel wood, with gas being prohibitively expensive,
the vast majority of Ugandans rely on charcoal or firewood that has been harvested from
national forests or the private lands of impoverished farmers. There has been a 180%
charcoal price increase in the past six years (Tukwatanite, 2023).

Academicisation of the Environment Is a Threat to Uganda’s Environmental Future

When one academicises something, one makes it unreal. Therefore, when one academicizes
the environment one turns it into an academic concern, which does not necessarily benefit the
environment in terms of effective conservation and management. In fact, it introduces
academic elitism in what was a social and cultural enterprise. Elitism is a vice not, a virtue or
value. This can explain why many men and women with academic knowledge have failed to conserve and manage the environment effectively when they have been assigned the
responsibility to do so. They are not men and women of reality but unreality, yet the
environment is real (Oweyegha-Afunaduula, 2023). Unreal environments, resulting from the
academicisation of thinking and action (conserving and managing), end up being artificial
environments, not greatly different from urban environments or plantations whose problems
and solutions continue to be academicised. As such they are outward-looking, with
wandering minds that are more comfortable externally than internally. They need mind
liberation”. I may add that so disoriented, they are unlikely to be curious enough about nature
to conserve and manage it for posterity as our ancestors did. They are likely to work in the
interests of environmentally destructive forces (Oweyegha-Afunaduula, 2023).

Extractives -A Threat to Uganda’s Environmental Future

There is nothing which is destroying the environment of Uganda and poses to be the most
environment-jeopardising factor well in the future as the extractives sector. The foundation in
Uganda’s extractive sector is Karamoja and Busoga, which are also reputed to be the poorest
regions in Uganda – financially -but are very rich mineral-wise, Unfortunately, their minerals
are being clandestinely mined by people of extraneous origin (Chinese, Indians, Rwandese or
former refugees connected to power) and exported without any beneft to the two regions.

Uganda’s extractives sector is rapidly transforming from small-scale and artisanal mining to
large-scale industry in rural areas of the country. Extractives include oil, gas, and the
accelerated licensing of mining operations as vast deposits of gold, uranium, copper, and rare
earth minerals have been discovered, particularly in Busoga. Such operations are
accompanied by mega ‘infrastructure’ investments – roads, pipelines, power lines, and dam
projects – which serve the industry and displace local communities, but not so in Karamoja
and Busoga. Women bear the brunt of this. Extractivism is defined as the large-scale
extraction of raw materials such as oil, minerals, or industrial agricultural and monocultural
products intended not for local consumption but for export, which entails many countries’
integration into and dependency upon the capitalist world market (NAWAD, 2021).

Land Grabbing – A Threat to Uganda’s Environmental Future

In Uganda, the land rush has displaced communities to make space for intensive monocrops,
oil exploration, and infrastructure projects. Government purchases land, often providing
landowners with no choice and limited compensation, and then leases it to investors,
including foreign companies. The economic ideology espoused by governments throughout
Africa and beyond is that increased foreign direct investment will create a more developed
and prosperous economy with jobs, wealth, improved social services for all, and better living
conditions (NAWAD, 2021).

Due to land grabbing, native forests and local biodiversity are being lost, people are being
evicted from their homes and forced to give up their lands, along with all the other problems
linked to the large-scale use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Some individual cases are
reported in the booklet ‘Let’s expose Land Grabbing’ published by Slow Food and available
for free download on the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity website. Slow Food projects

in Uganda aim to empower local small-scale food producers and aid them in their fight
against land grabbing (farmlandgrabbing.org, 2017). I have already mentioned elsewhere in
this article that land grabbing is erasing our time-tested food security-imparting
agroecological systems Mourice Muhoozi (2023) wrote that agroecology can help to restore
Uganda’s lost green cover. However, what is going on in the country in the area of land
grabbing, sometimes as if government allows it, and mostly by government agents, does not
give much hope for agroecology. Therefore, the erosion of our 7 or 8 agroecological systems
is likely to worsen with the passage of time.
In one short sentence Uganda’s environmental future is jeopardised.

What Is the Way Forward?

The environmental future of Uganda is and should be squarely in the hands of the youth. Our
country’s population is more than 80% youthful. Unfortunately, thousands of our youth are
being ferried out to the Middle East to work as external slaves. Environmentally speaking
they re being taken out of their environment to a foreign environment where they are no more
than environmental pollutants. When they come back, they will find a completely different
environment where they will also be environmental pollutants. This is environmental
sabotage because Uganda needs its youth to ensure that Uganda has a secure environmental
future of which they are a part and can work in to create a secure, productive country. The
Basoga of Ugnda say “Emiti Emito N’ekibira” (Young trees make the forest). If we are to
ensure a sustainable future for Uganda and its people, we must depend on our youth to who
the future belongs. There is, therefore, need to focus on the youth when building a sustainable
environmental future. Mahdi Kolahi (2023) has given 10 essential skills that the youth should
be equipped with and which they must master in building sustainable futures. These are:

1. Environmental literacy is the understanding of the natural world, ecosystems,
environmental issues, and human-environment interconnections. It enables individuals to
analyze, evaluate, and take responsible actions to protect and sustain the environment,
contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious society.
2. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills involve analyzing information, evaluating
evidence, and making reasoned decisions. It includes logical reasoning, objective evaluation,
and the ability to identify and solve complex problems. These skills are essential for
navigating the complexities of the modern world and addressing issues effectively.
3. Collaboration and communication skills involve effectively sharing ideas and
information in teams. Collaboration requires pooling resources, active listening, empathy, and
constructive contribution. Effective communication involves conveying ideas clearly, actively
listening, and fostering open dialogue. These skills are crucial for achieving shared objectives
in diverse and dynamic environments.
4. Leadership and advocacy skills empower individuals to drive positive change and
influence others toward a common vision or cause. Effective leadership and advocacy require
strong communication, strategic thinking, empathy, and the ability to navigate complex systems. These skills play a crucial role in promoting sustainability, addressing
environmental challenges, and creating a more just and equitable world.
5. Innovation and creativity drive progress and spur new ideas and solutions. Both are
crucial in finding sustainable solutions to complex environmental issues and fostering a more
resilient and inclusive future.
6. Cultural competence and inclusivity involve understanding, respecting, and
effectively engaging with diverse cultures and communities. Embracing these skills fosters
cross-cultural understanding, collaboration, and social equity, leading to more sustainable and
harmonious interactions between human societies and the environment.
7. Resilience and adaptability are crucial qualities for individuals and communities to
thrive in a rapidly changing world. Cultivating these qualities helps individuals and
communities respond to changing environmental conditions, promote sustainable practices,
and build a more resilient future.
8. Systems thinking involves understanding the interconnectedness of different parts of a
complex system and is crucial for addressing complex problems. Developing systems
thinking skills involves analyzing complex systems and identifying feedback loops, enabling
young people to contribute to a more sustainable and just future.
9. Data analysis involves examining and interpreting data to gain insights and make
informed decisions. Data analysis skills are essential for making evidence-based decisions in
various fields. Developing these skills helps young people make informed decisions and
contribute to a more data-driven and evidence-based world.
10. Being action-oriented involves taking initiative and being proactive in addressing
challenges and opportunities. This skill is crucial for personal and professional success and
contributes to a more sustainable and just future. Developing these skills helps young people
become effective problem solvers and agents of change.

For God and My Country

Written by Oweyegha Afunaduula (3)

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