Browsing by Author "Aben, Charles"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Characterizing Land Use Systems within Awoja Watershed
    (Energy and Earth Science, 2019) Aben, Charles; Okiror, John J.; Agea, Jacob G.; Hansen, Esbern F.
    This manuscript analyses trends in land use changes in Awoja Watershed with the aim of exploring the underlying causes of degradation in this watershed within the context of frequent draughts and floods. Changing trends of land use characteristics were used as indicators of ineffectiveness of control of access to resource use in the watershed. The study was carried out in the districts of Katakwi, Amuria and Sorotiin Eastern Uganda where the watershed is experiencing increasing trends of degradation despite the presence of elaborate watershed management institutions. The study used Remote Sensing, and focus group discussions to acquire relevant data on land use changes and their perceived causes.Perceptions of respondents on the effectiveness of the local governance processes were generated. The findings show increase in built-up areas from 0.21% between 1986-1996; to 3.28 between 2006 and 2016 and a notable decrease in forest cover from 107.48 Km2 in 1,986 to 6.94 Km2 by 2016. The results also show a dramatic increase in small scale farming area from 629.44 Km2 to 2,376.64 Km2 from 1986-2016 while the area of wetland reduced from 2,810.47 Km2 to 1,355 Km2over the same period. Results from focus group discussions revealed that although climatic and demographic factors were responsible for land use changes in Awoja, control of access to natural resources was inadequate to stop degradation. Climatic factors mentioned included increased frequency of floods and draughts that were perceived to have been responsible for changes in vegetation cover, water levels and infrastructure. Socio economic factors driving the changes in land use included increased cultivation of wetlands and communal land, increased sale of fuel wood, charcoal and sand, increased migration of cattle herders into the watershed during draughts and out of it during floods and increased fishing. While climatic factors were important, socio political factors such as displacements of communities, resettlements in the fragile environment brought about by government efforts to demarcate wetlands and wild life conservation areas were cited as drivers of degradation. The study concludes that besides climatic factors, inadequate management of access to resources was contributing to degradation of the watershed.
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    Climate Change Policy and Practice
    (Danish Institute for International Studies, 2015) Friis-Hansen, Esbern; Aben, Charles; Okiror, John James; Bashaasha, Bernard; Suubi, Godfrey
    This section first analyses the national policy response and characterizes the new climate change policy arena as compared with the more established disaster and emergency response policies. Thereafter the institutional landscape involved with climate change is mapped. This is followed by an assessment of the relationship between national policy and local government practice by introducing the principle of subsidiarity. Finally, we discuss how climate change is articulated or ignored among local government politicians, exemplified by a case study from Amuria District, where climate change was successfully used as a platform for local government elections in 2006.
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    Decentralization and implementation of climate change policy in Uganda
    (DIIS Working Paper, 2013) Friis-Hansen, Esbern; Bashaasha, Bernard; Aben, Charles
    The focus of climate change policies and action in Africa south of the Sahara differs from the global agenda. While most debate within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change relates to assessing physical climate change and mechanisms for mitigation, the main concern of most African countries is how to adapt to the effects of climate change. A growing number of projects addressing climate change adaptation and government are formulating new policies that seek to provide a framework to guide these activities. Yet, discussion of the content of and driving forces behind climate change adaptation in national policies has been limited. Even less is known about how such national climate change policies have been implemented and their institutional setting within the country. This working paper explores the driving forces behind the formulation of climate change policies in Uganda and assesses its content and implementation modalities. The working paper explores the extent to which there is a gap between policy and practice at the district and local levels.
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    Influence of Political Interests on Management of Resource Access in Awoja Watershed
    (International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 2018) Aben, Charles; Okiror, John J.; Agea, Jacob G.; Hansen, Esbern F.
    This study sought to determine the extent to which local political interests under decentralization influence watershed management. The study was carried out in Soroti, Katakwi and Amuria districts in Eastern Uganda where local governance of watershed resources is being challenged by floods, draughts and mobility of communities. A cross sectional study design using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods was employed. Factor Analysis and a Logistics Regression Model were used to analyze household survey data gathered from 180 randomly selected households; to determine influence of political factor variables on watershed management. Focus Group Discussions and key informants’ interviews were also used to generate qualitative data with the purpose of explaining the relationships among variables and to analyze the extent to which various factors influenced watershed management. From the correlation results the factors that were significantly correlated to watershed management were: Community involvement in implementation was significantly correlated to watershed management (r=0.289, P<0.01), political interests in decisions r=0.187, P<0.05), Reasons for punishment of offenders (r=0.55, P, 0.001. Results from the logit regression showed that dissatisfaction with regulations had an increasing influence on watershed management by 90.8% (OR=1.908, P<0.05). This means that management systems were highly affected by dissatisfaction of communities with rules and regulations. Similarly, community involvement in implementation of rules and regulations significantly influenced watershed management by 3 fold (OR=3.436537, P<0.05). From the focus group discussions and KII interviews the study found that involving communities in policy implementation had led to compromises between communities and watershed governance institutions, which were perceived to have undermined the effective control of access and management of watershed resource use. The study concludes that some political interest factors and divergent activities of local institutions and actors in the watershed constrained the very processes that they should support thereby escalating degradation in Awoja.
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    Towards 'good enough' climate and disaster risk governance: Emerging lessons from Zambia, Nepal, Viet Nam and Uganda
    (Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), 2014) Christoplos, Ian; Aben, Charles; Bashaasha, Bernard; Dhungana, Hari; Friis-Hansen, Esbern
    This report compares and contrasts how disaster risk management is being conceptualised in relation to emerging climate change adaptation efforts and how these two agendas are influenced by different governance systems, accountabilities and social contracts in Zambia, Uganda, Viet Nam and Nepal. Particular attention is paid to how this relates to different forms of state legitimacy and the changing role of local government in connection with a range of decentralisation processes, increasing political attention and the lure of new but little understood climate change funding. Findings highlight how concerns about disaster risk are influencing how new and uncertain forms of combined disaster/climate governance are perceived and implemented. Increasing attention from the media is also noted as a key factor determining which aspects of disaster risk management gain prominence, and which are ignored in public demands and in responses by politicians and local government.
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    Understanding Sub-National Climate Governance: Findings from Nepal, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia
    (DIIS Report, 2016) Christoplos, Ian; Aben, Charles; Bashaasha, Bernard; Dhungana, Hari; Friis-Hansen, Esbern; Funder, Mikkel; Thi Thanh Huong, Nguyen
    Understanding the sub-national dynamics of climate governance is critical if individual nations and the global community are to move forward in implementing the COP21 agreement and make effective use of associated global climate funds. One important aspect of this is to understand the institutional conditions and dynamics that influence how sub-national organisations respond to climate change. This includes organisations such as local governments and deconcentrated state agencies that operate at the ‘meso-level’ between the central state and communities, in the administrative spaces encompassing districts, municipalities and provinces. From a strategic point of view, such meso-level organisations are by no means insignificant, and ideally they can play a strong role in supporting households in climate adaptation: They are often responsible for implementing national climate change policies and interventions in practice, while at the same time being accountable to the local population. At the same time, their decisions about how to interpret and implement climate policies in practice have direct and often substantial impacts on livelihoods and the risks faced by climate-vulnerable people. Meso-level organisations inhabit an often opaque ‘twilight’ area between the central state and the community (Lund 2006), where mandates and everyday actions are often open to interpretation and where public authority and ‘reach’ are sometimes fragmented, ambiguous and contested.