Opinion: Ugandan Pastoralists Affected by Drought Have Not Received Necessary Assistance
Climate change is having an increasingly strong impact on pastoralists across East Africa causing recurrent droughts leading to scarcity of water and pasture. 2016 and 2017 have been devastating, with prolonged drought tearing deep into the very existence of pastoralist communities in Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. However, it is how governments in these countries have responded to the situation that needs to be examined deeper. There is a dire need for leaders to combine efforts to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change, such as hunger and malnutrition, increased prices of cereals and deaths of livestock, and importantly, the conflicts emanating from unprecedented migrations in search of pasture and water.
In Uganda, indigenous pastoralists in Karamoja Sub-region have greatly been affected by the prolonged drought. Their economic livelihoods have been threatened as they have been forced to sell their haggard animals at low prices in order to acquire food, prevent death of these animals or reduce their herds to a manageable size that can feed on the scarce pastures. Hunger-related death in Karamoja Sub-region has become an annual event with the elderly, the children and the pregnant women bearing the brunt of the harsh conditions.
EU/ECHO Martin Karimi