Global Action for a Sustainable Future
Global action for a sustainable future looks to be in limbo as the United States, under President Donald Trump, and European countries significantly reduce their official development assistance to the Global South. However, Uganda can do more to protect its environment. There is a huge need for a mindset change. The late Pope Francis called environmental degradation a moral sin and called for sustainable living. One family does not need a 20-bedroom house and/or 1,000 hectares of land. Neither do they need two cars.
Recommendations from the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
The United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) recommends co-existence and not control of nature, managing the environment as a future benefit and not only a current one, and managing it as a community and not as individuals. The 2025 Interconnected Disaster Risks report, Turning Over a New Leaf, released in April, blames human’s love for fossil fuels to run combustion engines for much of the current environmental challenges.
This love has been growing since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, and efforts to limit the extraction of the fuels have been fought by oil-producing countries and powerful oil companies. Fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are blamed for climate change, which has intensified in the recent past with ravaging floods, drought, and high temperatures. The effects of climate change are seen in food shortages, waterborne diseases, disruption of communication lines, and economic activities at levels never seen before. This has affected poor countries like Uganda which have limited technologies and resources to respond to the emergency.
Theory of Deep Change
The report emphasizes the idea of mindset change and designing solutions (Theory of Deep Change). The Theory of Deep Change (ToDC) interrogates the root causes of global problems and identifies structures and assumptions in society that allow them to persist. The report authors use the analogy of a tree where bad fruits are a result of bad roots. Therefore, to solve the problem, one has to fix the roots. Some of today’s solutions are surface-level fixes. To create sustainable and lasting change, we need to question the societal structures and mindsets that perpetuate these challenges.
Key Areas for Deep Systemic Changes
The report highlights five areas where deep systemic changes are urgently needed:
- Rethink Waste: From trash to treasure. It advocates for a circular economy where durability, repair, and reuse are key concepts.
- Realign with Nature: From separation to harmony. It suggests that humans must not separate themselves from nature.
- Reconsider Responsibility: From ‘me’ to ‘we.’ The report highlights the high greenhouse gas emission by the rich and the high climate change effects felt mainly by the poor.
- Reimagine the Future: The report calls upon the current occupants of the earth to think of the incoming generation.
- Redefine Value: From economic wealth to planetary health. The report questions why, in some areas, deforested land is of more value than forested land.
Ugandan Experts Weigh In
The National State of the Environment Report 2018/2019 by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) reveals a dire state of the environment with forest cover and wetland coverage declining and air and water quality deteriorating. Forest cover was reduced from 23.8 percent in 1990 to 9.9 percent in 2017. However, the cover is going up again through the National Forestry Authority’s promotion of plantation forests.
Dr Patrick Byakagaba, an environment and natural resource governance expert and senior lecturer at Makerere University’s Department of Environmental Management, concurs with the authors of the report that humans are causing the greatest damage to the environment. He advises Uganda to learn from countries like Sweden and Costa Rica in protecting their forests.
Dr Byakagaba suggests the adoption of the Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) approach which requires integrating the cost of economic growth on natural resources. Frank Muramuzi, the executive director of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), says sometimes people do things out of ignorance.
There have been successful sustainable projects, though. Dr Byakagaba praises the National Environment Act, 2019 which has provisions for protecting nature including the right of nature to exist and holding those responsible for degradation culpable. On the other hand, the Climate Change Act 2021 compels ministries, departments, and authorities (MDA) to allocate reasonable finances to climate change activities.
