“Let's press the panic button now and take effective climate action,” - Minister Cheptoris

Sam Cheptoris, the minister of water and the environment, has urged the country to act immediately to address the escalating climate problem.

According to Cheptoris, research has established that although Africa has made the smallest contribution to global emissions, its repercussions would be felt most acutely due to its vulnerability and sluggish adoption of adaption strategies.

“The East and Horn of Africa are the most vulnerable, these areas have experienced drought, floods, famine among other disasters that have resulted into food insecurity," Cheptoris said.

“These disasters have led to migration and need for relocation which calls for enhancing cooperation. The easy way out will be for all of us to press the panic button now.”

Cheptoris was introducing the regional inter-ministerial conference on migration, environment, and climate change, which is being held at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.

The government of Uganda is the host, through the Ministry of Water and Environment in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for East and Horn of Africa, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and East African Development Bank (EADB)’s Regional Collaboration Centre (RCC) based in Uganda.

It will last for three days, through July 29, 2022 under the theme of “Enhancing cooperation in relation to Climate Change Induced Human Mobility including Migration, Displacement and Planned Relocation”.

This is the first-ever inter-ministerial conference on migration, environment, and climate change, according to Margaret Athieno Mwebesa, commissioner for climate change in the Ministry of Environment.

Participants in the meeting are from Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Mwebesa stated that the meeting takes place at a crucial time, particularly before the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations (COP27), which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November.

“The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events resulting from climate change directly forces people to move from their homes to another region, this meeting is a big opportunity for us because COP 27 has been labeled the “African COP” and we thought that this would be an important gathering to help us come up with one position,” Mwebesa said.

“We want to bring our priorities at the forefront and this is one of the platforms to bring them out.”

The IOM Chief of Mission in Uganda, Sanusi Tejan Savage said that the outcome of the conference will contribute to raising the important topic of human mobility in the context of climate change, at the global level for serious consideration.

UN resident coordinator to Uganda Susan Namondo in her remarks said that between 1992 when the UNFCCC was launched and until now, climate change has become an all encompassing threat than anyone imagined in the 90’s with the challenges making it harder for low developed countries to achieve their local development goals.

The first two days of the conference will focus on technical discussions among member states and technical experts in line with the conference theme on their national priorities, challenges and best practices for climate change and migration.

Youth sessions will also be held and will run in parallel with the technical sessions with an aim of listening to the voices of the youth on issues of migration environment and climate change.