Diana Kibuuka @COP28
Uganda has today 2nd. December during the ongoing28th Cooperate Of Parties – COP28 meeting in Dubai launched theKampala Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change aimed at enhancing cooperation and action to address climate change induced human mobility.
Launching the Declaration under the witness of the DirectorGeneral Immigration Organization for Migration Ammy Pope, Uganda’s Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabanja confirmed that 33 African countries have so far signed the declaration and called upon other states to sign in order make
this declaration an African agenda in solving the challenge of migrations that result from the effects of climate change.
Nabanja added that as Uganda looks forward to host the G77 –China summit early next year in January, climate change human mobility is one of the key topics of discussions, because countries cannot develop if their people are always on the move especially due natural calamities.
The Cabinet Minister for Water and Environment Sam Cheptoris,explained that the declaration journey has been on since 2022, with several meeting happening in Kampala and Nairobi, until today that they have had it launched and signed by some African minsters who have represented their countries.
The declaration is looking at addressing five areas ofconcern which include;
– Progressive desertification and land degradationcreating forced mobility of people and livestock.
– Unsustainable use of ecosystems and the impactof frequent and intense extreme weather events on people and livestock.
– Unplanned migration of people from rural tourban centres as a result of climate change and disasters.
– Scarcity of data and statistics on the impact ofclimate change on human and livestock mobility in the region.
– Limitations of partnerships and financing torespond to the climate crisis adversely affecting the mobility of our people and livestock in the region.
The Director General International Organization forMigration Ammy Pope has lauded Uganda for this first ever declaration on Climate and Migration which she said needs great attention because such
migrations deprive people their rights and freedoms.
According to data collected from the Internal DisplacementMonitoring Centre by Hind Aïssaoui Bennani and Lisa Lim Ah Ken, Regional Thematic Specialists on Migration in West and Central Africa and in East and Horn of Africa respectively, West and Central Africa region accounted for 265,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to disasters (such as floods, storms, or landslides), approximately 3 per cent of total IDPs, at the end of 2021, In 2022, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),the Republic of Congo was the most affected country, followed by Chad, Liberia, Nigeria, and Niger. Eleven countries are considered flooding hotspots by OCHA in 2022, including Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, and The Gambia.
In the East and Horn of Africa, a fifth consecutive year ofdrought in the region has engendered loss of livestock and livelihoods, leaving millions of people severely affected in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, and pushing tens of thousands of families to leave their homes in search of food, water and pasture, many to urban areas.