I also call upon government to continue supporting us in our monitoring and compliance endeavours.
United Nations were in Bali, to work towards a new global treaty on climate change. During the meeting, Countries agreed to set strong targets on carbon emissions. This paved the way for the summit to agree to sign a new global climate change treaty by 2009. It is not by coincidence that climate change is regarded by the United Nations Uganda inclusive and recognized in a number ways nowadays. It is because it is real and its effects are better off prevented than reacted to after they have been let to happen. It is upon every one of us thus to unite to combat Climate Change.
NEMA advocates for sustainable development and puts emphasis on sustainability in all life aspects. This is why we have consistently produced the State of Environment Report (SOER) every two years. This is a monitory tool which we use to compare the status of our resources over time. According to the State of Environment Report 2006/2007, about 92 per cent of Uganda’s source of energy is wood fuel. By 1986, Uganda was already in wood fuel deficit by 2.7 million cubic metres. More than 20 years have passed, the population has almost doubled and not much tree planting has been done. However it is not yet too late. If we put emphasis on tree planting at our home level and embrace energy saving techniques in homes, factories and in the transport sector, the future may be brighter.
Air pollution has been on the increase due to use of the unsustainable industrial and domestic technologies that release a lot of pollutants such as the greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Human activities such as bush burning, burning of fossil fuels, agriculture, poor waste management and deforestation contribute significantly to emission of these gases.
The destruction of forests is now recognised as one of the main causes of climate change. The causes of deforestation are demands for wood fuel and land for agriculture. We are not telling you to stop using the biomass (firewood, charcoal), but to use it sustainably by employing saving technologies. These can include simple stoves like the Lorena for the fire wood users and the clay-charcoal stove for charcoal users.
We have been experiencing drastic rise in the cost of petroleum fuel. This is the time to embrace mass-transportation like buses rather than the many small individual cars that will not only consume more fuel but also cause more air pollution. Food prices have also gone up and the living is increasingly becoming very difficult.
However, environment management should not be looked at as entirely NEMA’s responsibility but a task all of you, the private sector, Civil Society, NGOs, Faith Based Organizations as well as individuals must take on