Natural Sciences

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Climate Risk in Africa: Adaptation and Resilience
(Springer Nature, 2021) Conway, Declan; Vincent, Katharine
This open access book highlights the complexities around making adaptation decisions and building resilience in the face of climate risk. It is based on experiences in sub-Saharan Africa through the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) applied research programme. It begins by dealing with underlying principles and structures designed to facilitate effective engagement about climate risk, including the robustness of information and the construction of knowledge through co-production. Chapters then move on to explore examples of using climate information to inform adaptation and resilience through early warning, river basin development, urban planning and rural livelihoods based in a variety of contexts. These insights inform new ways to promote action in policy and praxis through the blending of knowledge from multiple disciplines, including climate science that provides understanding of future climate risk and the social science of response through adaptation. The book will be of interest to advanced undergraduate students and postgraduate students, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in geography, environment, international development and related disciplines.
The Context of the Assessment
(United Nations, 2016) Harris, Peter; Tuhumwire, Joshua
Consider how dependent upon the ocean we are. The ocean is vast – it covers seven-tenths of the planet. On average, it is about 4,000 metres deep. It contains 1.3 billion cubic kilometres of water (97 per cent of all water on Earth). But there are now about seven billion people on Earth. So we each have just one-fifth of a cubic kilometre of ocean to provide us with all the services that we get from the ocean. That small, one-fifth of a cubic kilometre share produces half of the oxygen each of us breathes, all of the sea fish and other seafood that each of us eats. It is the ultimate source of all the freshwater that each of us will drink in our lifetimes. The ocean is a highway for ships that carry across the globe the exports and imports that we produce and consume. It contains the oil and gas deposits and minerals on and beneath the seafloor that we increasingly need to use. The submarine cables across the ocean floor carry 90 per cent of the electronic traffic on which our communications rely. Our energy supply will increasingly rely on wind, wave and tide power from the ocean. Large numbers of us take our holidays by the sea. That one fifth of a cubic kilometre will also suffer from the share of the sewage, garbage, spilled oil and industrial waste which we produce and which is put into the ocean every day. Demands on the ocean continue to rise: by the year 2050 it is estimated that there will be 10 billion people on Earth. So our share (or our children’s share) of the ocean will have shrunk to one-eighth of a cubic kilometre. That reduced share will still have to provide each of us with sufficient amounts of oxygen, food and water, while still receiving the pollution and waste for which we are all responsible.
Ecological baseline surveys of Lake Bisina, Lake Opeta, Lake Mburo and Nakivali wetlands systems
(AquaDocs, 2009) Michael Opige, Odull; Byaruhanga, Achilles
Wetlands cover about 30,000 km2 of Uganda’s land area and are considered to be important ecosystems, which contribute considerably to the national economy and rural livelihoods. However, these important ecosystems are currently under increasing pressure due to factors such as population growth, economic reforms, climate change and the desire for increase in per capita income and other pressures of the development process. Threats include among others uncontrolled conversion of the wetlands into agricultural areas and unplanned developments and wetland uses which may have adverse effects on the capacity of the wetlands to perform natural functions. In order to address these threats, there is need to promote wise use of the wetland ecosystem. This can be done using existing guidelines or by developing other guidelines that will assist the various districts in developing ordinances and bye-laws to regulate the use of wetlands in their areas of jurisdiction. The International Union for Conservation of nature (IUCN) in collaboration with the Wetlands Management Department (WMD), Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), NatureUganda (NU) and Uganda Wildlife Society (UWS), are implementing a four-year project titled “Extending wetland protected areas through community conservation initiatives” in eastern and western Uganda (COBWEB). The project aims at strengthening the Ugandan Protected Area (PA) network by expanding the coverage of the PA network to include the country’s biologically important wetland ecosystems. The project will develop, pilot and adopt suitable PA management models in two respective wetland systems adjacent to two terrestrial PA networks in Eastern and Western Uganda. Management will be geared to the specific needs of wetlands and will allow for development of protection and sustainable management strategies that shall be implemented by rural communities and be adoptable to others.
Environmental and anthropogenic changes in and around the Budongo Forest Reserve
(Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2012) Babweteera, F.; Sheil, D.; Reynolds, V.; Plumptre, A. J.; Zuberbuhler, K.; Hill, C. M.; Webber, A.; Tweheyo, M.
Budongo Forest Reserve (BFR) is a medium altitude, moist semi-deciduous forest, covering an area of 825 km2 of which about 50% is forest and the rest is grassland (Figure 3.1). Budongo has for a long period been the centre for studies in tropical silviculture and botanical work in the East African region (e.g. Eggeling 1947, Plumptre 1996, Sheil et al. 2000, Babweteera et al., 2000). Budongo Forest Reserve (31o 22' – 31o 46' E and 1o 37' – 2o 03' N) was gazetted by the British Colonial Administration in the early 1930s although timber extraction started as early as 1910. Initially the logging planned to remove all old timber trees over 1.3 m DBH followed by felling smaller trees 80 years later. The ultimate aim was to create a two-stage uniform crop of trees which would be felled over a 40 year polycyclic interval. However, due to the slow recovery of valued timber of suitable sizes harvesting was changed to monocyclic felling on an 80 year rotation and the felling limit lowered to 85 cm DBH (Dawkins, 1958 and Philip, 1965). Enrichment planting with mahoganies (Khaya anthotheca and Entandrophragma spp.) was carried out between the 1940s and 50s but was quickly abandoned after it was found that many seedlings died and that natural regeneration in logged areas was as good as that in planted areas. Later planting of saplings was started but elephants often ate and killed these. Consequently, during the 1950s and 1960s arboricide treatments were carried out on trees with low market value („weed species‟), together with climber cutting, to open up the canopy and encourage the spread of mixed forest which favoured regeneration of the mahoganies. However, the treatments were stopped in the 1970s when more tree species became marketable and the cost of the arboricide became too high.
Geophagy in Chimpanzees {Pan trogrlodytes schweinfurthii) of the Budongo Forest Reserve Uganda: A Multidisciplinary Study
(Springer, New York, NY., 2006) Tweheyo, Mnason; Reynolds, Vernon; Huffmany, Michael A.; Pebsworth, Paula; Goto, Shunji; Mahaney, William C.; Milner, Michael W.; Waddell, Anthony; Dirszowsky, Randy; Hancock, Ronald G. V.
Geophagy occurs widely among primate species (Krishnamani & Mahaney, 2000). While reported for chimpanzees in the wild since the 1960s (Hladik, 1977; Nishida & Uehara, 1983; Goodall, 1986), the geochemical and behavioral study of geophagy in relation to self-medication (Huffman, 1997) was not initiated until the mid-1990s, the first being that of Mahaney and Huffman. This work began in Tanzania with the analysis of termite mound soils, behavioral and parasitological data collected from the Mahale Mountains National Park (Mahaney etui, 1996b; 1998; Aufreiter etal, 2001; Ketch etal, 2001). Further analyses have included termite soils eaten by chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, and exposed subsurface clays eaten by chimpanzees in the Kibale National Park, Uganda (Mahaney etal., 1997,1998; Aufreiter etd., 2001). Geophagy has recently been noted to occur in a fourth East African population, the Sonso community in the Budongo Forest Reserve, Western Uganda. Early published studies from Budongo did not report any kind of soil eating by chimpanzees. However, more recently, Reynolds etal. (1998) referred to the eating of riverbank soil and other authors have noted sporadic termite mound soil eating by chimpanzees in this forest (e.g., D. Quiatt in Reynolds et al.y 1998:335; Newton-Fisher, 1999a,b). Termite mounds of the species CubiUrmesspeciosuszrc present in the Budongo forest (Newton-Fisher, 1999b). At Gombe, chimpanzees consume Macrotermes with the aid of termite fishing tools inserted in a mound's ventilation ducts (Goodall, 1986). Reference is made to the consumption of mound soils of Pseudacanthotermes spnigcr in Mahale, as being distinct from the consumption of termite mound soil there (Uehara, 1982). In the case of Cubiurmes 2it Budongo, however, chimpanzees consume termites along with lumps of earth wrenched from termite mounds. While information exists on the consumption of termites, little consideration is given to the depth reached by termite species. Pomeroy (1976) cites Pseudacanthotermes 2LS a builder of smaller mounds in Uganda. Cubitermes humiverus is also a builder of small mounds that are characteristically mushroom-shaped. This species' shallow activity in the soil, unlike the other mound builders, is likely to produce high organic contents in mound soils, a characteristic antithetic to geophagy. Furthermore, nowhere is there a detailed analysis of soils that provides information on the different structural components of these mounds. When considering the ingestion of termite mound soils, this information is important for increasing our understanding of their selection by chimpanzees.
The Ivory Coast and Uganda
(Springer, 2008) Adiko, Amoncho; Gnonhouri, Philippe G.; Namaganda, Josephine M.
country of 322 thousand square kilometers, and inhabited by 16 million people, the Ivory Coast is considered the ‘economic lung’ of West Africa, with a GDP of 16.3 billion dollars in 2005. Nonetheless, social unrest and the instability of the international commodity market made the country’s annual growth rate fall from 7% in the 1990’s to 2% (Anonymous, 2006). The Ivory Coast’s prosperity is based primarily on agriculture, which accounts for 35% of the GDP, 70% of the export earnings, and 66% of the employment positions (Anonymous, 1997a). Major agricultural products are coffee, cocoa (40% of the world’s production), palm-kernel oil, cotton, rubber, banana, pineapple, and mango. The offshore reserves of oil and natural gas are also important assets for the national economy.
Land-Sea Physical Interaction
(United Nations, 2016) Reyna, Julián; Wilson, William Douglas; Harris, Peter; Komatsu, Teruhisa; Mosetti, Renzo; Tõnisson, Hannes; Tuhumwire, Joshua
This chapter deals with how human activities have changed the physical interaction between the sea and the land. This physical interaction is important because about 60 per cent of the world’s population live in the coastal zone (Nicholls et al., 2007). The “coastal zone” is defined in a World Bank publication as “the interface where the land meets the ocean, encompassing shoreline environments as well as adjacent coastal waters. Its components can include river deltas, coastal plains, wetlands, beaches and dunes, reefs, mangrove forests, lagoons and other coastal features.” (Post et al., 1996) In some places, natural coastal erosion processes cause damage to property, harm to economic activities and even loss of life. In other places, human activities have modified natural processes of erosion of the coast and its replenishment, through: (1) coastal development such as land reclamation, sand mining and the construction of sea defences that change the coastal alongshore sediment transport system; (2) modification of river catchments to either increase or decrease natural sediment delivery to the coast; and (3) through global climate change and attendant sea level rise changes to surface wave height and period and the intensity and frequency of storm events.
Offshore Mining Industries
(United Nations (UN): New York, NY, USA., 2016) Baker, Elaine; Gaill, Françoise; Lamarche, Geoffroy; Raharimananirina, Clodette; Santos, Ricardo; Tuhumwire, Joshua
Marine mining has occurred for many years, with most commercial ventures focusing on aggregates, diamonds, tin, magnesium, salt, sulphur, gold, and heavy minerals. Activities have generally been confined to the shallow near shore (less than 50 m water depth), but the industry is evolving and mining in deeper water looks set to proceed, with phosphate, massive sulphide deposits, manganese nodules and cobalt-rich crusts regarded as potential future prospects.
Oil Wealth and Development in Uganda and Beyond Prospects, Opportunities, and Challenges
(Leuven University Press, 2019-12) Langer, Arnim; Ukiwo, Ukoha; Mbabazi, Pamela
Large quantities of oil were discovered in the Albertine Rift Valley in Western Uganda in 2006. The sound management of these oil resources and revenues is undoubtedly one of the key public policy challenges for Uganda as it is for other African countries with large oil and/or gas endowments. With oil expected to start flowing in 2021, the current book analyses how this East African country is preparing for the challenge of effectively, efficiently, and transparently managing its oil sector and resources. Adopting a multidisciplinary, comprehensive, and comparative approach, the book identifies a broad scope of issues that need to be addressed in order for Uganda to realise the full potential of its oil wealth for national economic transformation. Predominantly grounded in local scholarship and including chapters drawing on the experiences of Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, the book blazes a trail on governance of African oil in an era of emerging producers. Oil Wealth and Development in Uganda and Beyond will be of great interest to social scientists and economic and social policy makers in oil-producing countries. It is suitable for course adoption across such disciplines as International/Global Affairs, Political Economy, Geography, Environmental Studies, Economics, Energy Studies, Development, Politics, Peace, Security and African Studies.
Standing up for a Sustainable World: Voices of Change
(Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020) Henry, Claude; Rockström, Johan; Stern, Nicholas
The world has witnessed extraordinary economic growth, poverty reduction and increased life expectancy and population since the end of WWII, but it has occurred at the expense of undermining life support systems on Earth and subjecting future generations to the real risk of destabilising the planet. This timely book exposes and explores this colossal environmental cost and the dangerous position the world is now in. Standing up for a Sustainable World is written by and about key individuals who have not only understood the threats to our planet, but also become witness to them and confronted them.
Transgressing Boundaries: Gendered Spaces, Species, and Indigenous Forest Management in Uganda
(Tropical Resource Management Papers, 2005) Nsubuga Nabanoga K., Gorettie
Uganda is a country known for its extensive tropical high forests. It is estimated that 24 percent (5 million ha) of Uganda’s land is under forest cover (MWLE 2001). Local people are known to greatly depend on these forest resources (Cunningham 1996). Uganda’s forest resources are thus expected to contribute to poverty eradication, wealth creation and the modernisation of the country (MWLE 2001). However, past forest management policies in Uganda led to increasing State control over the approximately 700 forest reserves that cover about 30 percent of all forested area in the country (Ndemere 1997; Kayanja and Byarugaba 2001). For decades the Government has taken a strong conservationist stance and its main goals in managing the reserves were to conserve these forests and generate revenues for the State. The Forest Department, a State agency, controlled and managed about 61percent of the total forest area under State control, with the main objectives of producing timber and providing of environmental services, presumably for the benefit of the nation as a whole (Howard 1991). It issued and regulated permits and concessions for the harvest of forest products. Only a small percentage (less than 20 percent) of the revenues was reinvested in forest conservation. Moreover, the government imposed restrictions on local people’s collection of forest products (Uganda Government 1988; Kiwanuka 1991). Functionaries of the State Forest Department considered that conservation involved protecting forest against people rather than managing forests for people’s needs (UFD 1997). Successive forest policies have restricted local people’s rights to enter, use and manage forest reserves in the name of forest conservation, leaving a limited number of non-gazetted forest areas that cover a total of about 20,000 km2 in which local communities exercise relatively independent use and management. In addition to the forest reserves, private forest lands constitute about 70 percent of all forested landscapes in Uganda. The use of these forests is formally overseen by local governments and communities, but little attention has been given by the government to developing forest management policies for these lands. With such a state-dominated approach to forest management, local communities’ forest management practices, which are primarily geared towards local subsistence and cultural values, have been largely ignored. Policy makers generally overlook local management approaches and rarely contemplate them in policies geared towards forested landscape management.

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