Originally Published by Daily Monitor of Nation Media, 17th February 2010.

Lukwanga CKCAs climate change effects like reduced rainfall, diseases and famine strike the core livelihood for rural people, environmental organisations have taken the message of how to reduce the impact to the people whose survival mainly depends on nature.

As such, a six-month climate change awareness programme has kicked off in Lukwanga Parish in Wakiso District. Environmental Alert, a local civil society organisation that works to ensure proper natural resource use is behind the project. Most people here engage in economic activities that have diverse effects on the environment, hence contributing to environmental degradation, leading to micro climate changes.

The fear is that once these vital resources are lost, they will be very difficult and expensive to restore and in the long run, accelerate poverty. "Deforestation is rampant to avail wood fuel, yet communities don"t plant trees nor do they use green energy alternatives,' Mr Noah Bamurabire, Environmental Alert"s community information volunteer, said. Mr Bamurabire is in charge of Lukwanga Community Knowledge Centre which will be used as a knowledge hub on issues related to climate change and possible solutions.

He said the centre that was formed with support from the Arid Lands Information Network- Eastern Africa has existed since 2007. Little has however been passed onto the people relating to climate change awareness creation and formulation of adaptation strategies in the area. "The community therefore continues to engage in many traditional extractive economic activities like sand mining for additional household incomes, which are dangerous to the area"s ecological integrity,' he said.

He said the programme will popularise the threat of climate change through various platforms like schools, using methods like songs and drama whose theme will be stopping activities that are harmful to the environment. He said all this is intended to get peoples" involvement and input because they are the ones who can find the best solutions to the threat once they are aware of the problem of climate change.

Mr Emmanuel Ssemwanga, an official from Environmental Alert, told a meeting at Lukwanga, that various visual aids like posters and films about the dangers of climate change will be used to create awareness. But Wakiso District"s natural resources officer, Ms Rebecca Sabaganzi, said politics has hindered the protection of the environment because political leaders fear to lose support once they stop people from activities like farming and settling in wetlands.

She said the involvement of organisations that have nothing to do with local politics, to fight environmental degradation will help rescue the situation.

Mr Bamurabire said the Lukwanga Knowledge Centre will have a data base about issues related to climate change and how it can be reduced.