Uganda Water Resources Sector vulnerability to Climate change

Client—Directorate of water resource management, Uganda ministry for environmental management
Area—Uganda
Timeline—December 2008—current

Description—Africa is especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change and equatorial Uganda, in particular, is located in the ‘hot’ zone, where changes to global circulation may become strongly evident. Changes in the frequency of extreme events appear already to be affecting the intensity and duration of floods and droughts. The risk and vulnerability analysis carried out for this project showed that we can expect climate change to have significant impacts on

  • the water budget of Lake Victoria and hence power generation at Jinja,
  • the livelihoods of people in the north-east Karamoja region and
  • landuse practices in the cattle belt.

Water quality in all Ugandan lakes is diminished when either flooding or droughts occur, because different pathways of contamination are activated by the prevailing weather. The contamination of ground water during floods and overuse of groundwater during droughts are also expected to increase with the expected climate change.

Declining food security is likely to become an increasing problem as the climate variability increases. Notably, water is a common element in all of these components of Ugandan socioeconomic activity.

By assessing the vulnerability of the different components of the water resources sector to ongoing and projected climate changes, OneWorld and its consultants propose viable adaptation projects that should reduce the vulnerability to the climate changes and increase resilience in the affected population. While the previous National Programme of Action (Napa) specified possible projects, these have been found to be too general and undefined in practice and hence remain without financial support.

The adaptation strategy was developed in response to the vulnerability assessment. It has been developed in consultation with stakeholders and is currently in the final stages of review with the client.

The strategy recognises that water is not necessarily in short supply in Uganda, but is not always available in the right place at the right time—a situation exacerbated by climate change.

Strategy options therefore include

  • increased irrigation
  • securing water for agricultural production
  • proactively managing water contamination through solutions such as biogas digesters
  • improving access to fish resources in the lakes and
  • the extension of rainwater harvesting facilities in the most densely populated rural and peri-urban areas.

Download the full Uganda Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment: Inception Report here (1.9Mb)