Reality of climate change must provoke swift action

A fresh wave of anguish has swept Uganda after Mother Nature unleashed its fury on the country’s transport infrastructure. The disruptions to movement have provoked widespread revulsion, and will likely continue to do so as state actors impose a modicum of order on the chaotic traffic on the Masaka highway.

Less known, but no less remarkable, is the devastation that Lake Victoria’s rising waters have wrought on a great deal of Ugandans. The precarity of the situation has driven many to despair.

A number of them continue to, excuse the pun, sinking deeper into turmoil. With the water level of Uganda’s biggest lake having risen to an estimated 14 metres, there has been no shortage of devastating consequences.

Most of them, including physical dangers, damaged homes, and written-off possessions, are downright awful.

Then there is also the bigger picture i.e. the lake ecosystem. There is a rich body of evidence that just about captures how rising water levels affect fish numbers. For one, rising water levels make fish more susceptible to losing their breeding grounds. The net result of all this is a telling drop in fish stocks.

To be clear, warming climate is just as bad. Some fish species are known to move when their traditional habitats become warmer. This essentially means that Uganda is faced with the challenge of pulling off a delicate balancing act to avert any effects traceable to extreme weather. There is no great secret to, or difficulty in, the manner that Uganda can right what is by all accounts and measures an enduring wrong.

It is increasingly becoming apparent that the current and future liveability of this country we call home depends on the swift action of our state actors. Human activities around the lakeshores, river banks, and further afield on the mainland have left the country facing a not entirely fresh set of fateful choices.

Indeed, it is not as if the country is inheriting problems whose consequences we struggle to comprehend. The impact of the depletion of wetlands has, for instance, been well articulated over a drawn out period. Yet, despite the science and messaging being clear, residents in the country continue to act with reckless abandon.

This status quo cannot be allowed to continue if anything because the situation at hand is, we believe, very urgent. State actors need to bring human activities around pathways for water bodies to a sustainable level.

Short of that, livelihoods will be impacted in more ways than one. Lest we forget, the water bodies in question, Lake Victoria inclusive, provide food, absorb carbon, and regulate climate, to mention but three.

State actors cannot continue to look powerless or project a sense of powerlessness as water bodies are over-exploited and contaminated by pollution, fishing, and sand mining.

The depletion of wetlands by seemingly powerful people is just as bad, if not worse. We continue to ask the government to do what is expected of it. If it chooses not to, Mother Nature will not withhold her fury.