Policy and institutional mechanisms to address climate change and human development issues in Uganda

Abstract

Uganda has established numerous policy and institutional frameworks to counteract the negative impact of Climate Change (CC), since the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in 1992. There have been concerns, however, that the implementation progress is debilitated by a surge of deficiencies ranging from policy to institutional mechanisms. Several institutional actors, for example, were said to remain anonymous, disparate and uncoordinated, causing parallel initiatives that could stifle the effort to address CC. This article, presents results of a fieldwork and desk research study conducted to analyse the major policy and institutional mechanisms, as well as, the actors involved in CC efforts in Uganda. The article reviews major CC-related policies, actors and institutional arrangements, to establish how far they represent suitable mechanisms of dealing with the problem; and in essence fostering human development (HD). The discussion highlights on who is doing what, with whom and with what progress – across the spectrum of government, development partners, NGOs, private sector and research institutions. The study established a great effort by different stakeholders, but their initiatives remain largely disparate and weak. This is due to poor coordination and communication, exacerbated by weak organisational structures, poor inter-agency relations, limited human skills and technical capacity, and failure to enlist the private sector and local governments to support responses to CC-HD. The need to establish a national CC policy (currently lacking), create more formal and authoritative institutions, promote institutional and human resource capacity, and strengthen monitoring are advocated.