Minister Kasaija urges donors to fund Uganda’s climate action plan

The Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija, has urged development organizations to finance Uganda’s climate change mitigation plan.

Speaking at the East African Climate Finance Directors Regional Meeting in Kampala on Thursday February 16, 2023, Kasaija said climate change is one of the biggest challenges to Uganda’s economic growth.

Uganda needs up to 28.1 billion dollars to finance climate mitigation measures according to its Nationally Determined Contribution, a commitment it made in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, for the period 2020-2030.

Kasaija says Uganda and other African countries must look for money from all over the world, warning that if countries become selfish with their resources, it will put the world at a greater risk.

According to Denis Mugagga, the head of the Climate Finance Unit at the Ministry of Finance, most of the cost is expected to be obtained from external sources, either through grants, loans, or both.   He says Uganda has committed to mobilize domestic resources to cover the unconditional actions to the tune of 4.1 billion dollars (15 trillion Shillings) equivalent to 15 percent of the total.

The adaptation component of this updated NDC covers 13 sectors of agriculture, forestry, energy, health, ecosystems (wetlands, biodiversity, and mountains), water and sanitation, fisheries, transport, manufacturing, industry, mining, cities, and built environment, disaster risk reduction, tourism, and education.

It also highlights 48 priority adaptation actions and 82 indicators with targets for 2025 and 2030.

Uganda plans to implement policies and measures in the different sectors that will reduce by 24.7 percent the national greenhouse gas emissions below the current (Business as Usual) levels.

Mugagga says they are putting in place measures including developing legal instruments that will enable them to achieve these targets including resource mobilization.

Kasaija said much as poor countries have not yet contributed significantly to the current global warming levels, they have done a lot to destroy their own countries. He gave the example of the lost forest cover in Uganda from 37 percent to just over 8 percent today over the last 40 years.

He says that the money being sought should mainly target sensitization of Ugandans settling in or destroying the delicate environment like protected forests and wetlands. According to him, many people settle in these places out of ignorance hence the need to educate them but adds that the government will continue evicting them.