Its time for the voices of Africa to be heard-Uganda- “Land of beauty”
There is no doubt about the undeniable beauty of Africa. Dramatic sunsets, exquisite landscapes, majestic wildlife, and distinctive cultures. Lurking behind the captivating beauty of Africa is the devastating consequences of climate change, a time bomb waiting to cause destruction and devastation among the poorest of poor.
Africa is more vulnerable than any other region to the world’s changing weather patterns. The many interlinked challenges of poverty, land degradation, technology constraints and the reliance on rain-fed agriculture, coupled with the the rise in temperatures will undoubtedly highlight these vulnerabilities.
In particular Uganda, a land locked country in West Africa will face devastating consequences from human induced climate change. Already facing drought, mud slides and floods it is expected that average temperatures will increase in this country by up to 1.5 ºC in the next 20 years and by up to 4.3 ºC by the 2080s. With these unprecedented predictions in temperatures the impact on water resources, food security and human health has mobilised a couple of young Uganda activist to fight for their future. Its time for these African voices to be heard.
Hilda Flavia
“Which type of storm or flavour of floods must Africa taste for us to get climate justice. It a bit reminds me of the rampant racism and apartheid my ancestors endured. We are suffering severe effects of climate change, as if coming from the global south is a mortal sin, with no or very little action from developing countries.”
Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is a 22-year-old Ugandan college student. Her climate activist journey started in 2017 when severe drought crippled her family and causing her grandmother’s farm to fail, wiping out all livestock and all crops. Today she is making her voice heard and advocating climate change at schools and international forums. For her she finds that talking about climate change in Uganda is particularly difficult as most of the people living in their community has never heard about climate change. However, this did not stop her determination and she started the Uganda chapter of Fridays for Future in 2019. She continued her efforts and made a powerful speech at he C40 World Mayors summit in 2019.
Today she continues to hold up her placard every Friday in the congested Kampala, the second most polluted city in Africa, reading, “Save our Environment. Save our Future. Uganda’s Temperatures are Rising. Keep Mama Africa Green”. With her advocacy in Fridays for Future she continues to recruit eco-sensitive young activists across Uganda, now standing at more than 25 000 young people preaching the “green gospel” of Earth. To support this movement head to their Twitter or Facebook pages.
Leah Namugerwa
“I want to raise a generation that cares about the environment. At least if the leaders can’t make a difference, we can make a difference. We, as kids, we’re not too young to make a positive difference.”
In 2010, landslides triggered by rain in the Bududa District in eastern Uganda claimed the lives of at least 100 people. These devastating landslides buried villages, crushed churches and destroyed thousands of homes. Coupled with this the increase in temperature is causing the agricultural sector to fail, with an estimated damaged of approximately $1.2 billion, which is 7.5% of Uganda’s GDP in 2010.
Leah, a 15 year old climate activist, witnessed crop failures due to drought, environmental degradation due to pollution and continued mud slides due to heavy rainfall. “[This was] not people being hit by gunshots — this was nature,” she says. With a median age in Uganda of only 16 years, Leah believes that the education of her younger peers is especially important to gain traction on climate change.
Inspired by Greta Tunberg, Leah started protesting on Friday’s, for climate action. Intentionally skipping school she faced many obstacles, including fear for her safety and online bullying with some questioning her intentions. In a country where education is key, missing school is frowned upon. This however did not stop her to continue her journey that led her to speaking to foreign ambassadors, and attending conferences in Rwanda, Kenya and Switzerland. She has spearheaded a tree planting campaigned by challenging transitions and calling on young people to plant trees on their birthdays. She also petitioned for a plastic ban in Uganda.
Today, Leah is still confident that the youth can lead climate action and advocate for change. With her determination she continues to tweet and sometimes even tagging the Uganda President, calling for existing legislation to be enforced.
Vanessa Nakate
“Climate change is here. Climate change is not in lockdown. Climate change is still destroying peoples livelihoods and we are not seeing that in the news.”
In January 2019, Vanessa started her own climate movement against inaction on the climate crisis. This 23 year old founded Youth for Future Africa and the Africa-based Rise Up Movement. The Rise Up Movement runs in countries including Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria, Malawi, Togo, Zambia and Senegal.
She has a particular interest in rainforests after she discovered that the Congo is the home of the largest rainforest in Africa. She started her activism due to the concern of the destruction of these rainforest and endangered species. Being active on twitter she shouted to the world, “The Amazon burns and the whole world talks about it! … Congo rainforest burns and a young girl talks about it. People are actually dying in Africa. But if these news companies don’t talk about the fires in Africa, it is sad.”
One of the defining moments were when an imaged emerged from the World Economic Forum in Davos, where she was removed from the photo standing besides 4 school activists including Greta Thunberg. This raised the concern of African voices being muted.
In her own words she tweeted, “You didn’t just erase a photo. You erased a continent. But I am stronger than ever.”
She continues to fight for climate injustice in Africa, and advocating to preserve the carbon sinks of Africa. To support this inspiring young activist in Uganda, head over to her twitter page.
I hope by featuring these three inspiring ladies from Uganda, their voices can be heard to communicate the devastation that Africa’s is facing, and to offer them the support they need to continue their fight for climate change and saving the lives of African people.
