Eleventh International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

In this paper, we present key impacts of environmental degradation in Northern Uganda causing climate change using Palaro Sub-Counties as a case. Palaro Sub county is one of the sub counties in Gulu District, experiencing high rate of environmental degradation leading to climate change. Refugee Law Project-School of Law Makerere together with Gulu District Local government organized 4 community dialogues involving 50 people, literature reviews, key informant interviews with 10 district, sub county leaders. The objectives of the activities were to find out the reasons for the high rates of the environmental degradation in the Sub county and the regions, who are involves, the level of impacts cause by the activities and what is currently done by district and the sub county. Findings indicate that there is high rate of charcoal production and the people involved are not locals, they are people from urban centers around the country employed by businessmen, over grazing by pastoralists who settled in the area, over exploitation of indigenous species of trees like shear nut and Afzelia Africana for exports due to international market demand, high level of poverty of the locals contributed by war, bush burning and land opening and licensing of environmental exploitation by the district local government council. Away from that, there is settlement of 1million refugees from South Sudan in the region with poor settlement planning and unsustainable use of environmental resources and development also causing climate change. Therefore, this trigger policy reforms on the exploitation of the environmental resources,