Memorable quotes on Climate change at the African Initiative Congress held in Uganda.

Some memorable quotes on Climate change at the African Initiative Congress held in Uganda.
By Esther Nakkazi

John English the executive director CIGI:
I too have attended so many conferences but this one is different, the excitement in this hall, never have I seen so many people raise their hands to ask questions and contribute or place yellow cards on the information boards, this has truly been a new model of participation.

Gilbert a presenter from Kenya- on adaptation
We should build capacities of communities at risk and strengthen knowledge sharing to tap into the indigenous knowledge. Stories from the vulnerable communities are very useful.

A female participant:
May be to solve climate change Uganda should reduce on the number of vehicles in the country? They consume fuel and emit gasses. We could just be designed for death!.
Another participant in response: We could explore cars that use water but not to ban cars all together.
Participant from eastern Uganda: some of the climate change adaptation strategies include marrying off young girls to older men. Some family did it in order to survive hunger. It worked.
Participant from eastern Uganda: If Egypt is using the water (from River Nile that has its source in Uganda) why shouldn’t we also use this water?
An official from National Environment Management Authority (NEMA):
If a wetland is not gazetted it is still a wetland and should not be reclaimed.
Busia environment officer:
We have increased prevalence of HIV because of climate change. In my district (Busia) - we have rural-urban migration due to climate change. When people move to the town, they get new partners but still go back to their wives in the villages which creates a social network with many partners to facilitate spread of HIV.
Participant from Arua district:
There are some good things that are happening because of climate change but they are never talked about. For instance in Arua mango trees are fruiting twice as a result of climate change.
NEMA official:
We need to differentiate between the impact of climate change from environmental degradation, which is as an equally big cause. Environmental degradation exuberates climate change.
Environmental degradation is as bad as climate change. Kabale’s temperatures were 9 degrees Celsius in the 1960’s and the mist used to dissipate at midday. It is now dissipating at 9.00am. What else do we need to see to believe climate change?
Jessica Eriyo, state minister for environment:
When I fly I always see clouds forming on forests, where there are just buildings there are no clouds, thicker forests have more clouds.
Jessica Eriyo- There is a company that came to parliament to sell solar lanterns, but I was amazed when my colleagues just passed by. Most of them were not interested at all.
Dr. Richard Taylor, Department of Geography, University College of London-
How are we going to transfer resources from polluters to non-polluters. We should talk about how this is going to be achieved but we are leaving it to politicians.
Winnie Matsiko, Member of Parliament:
- Why we formed the parliamentary forum on climate change;
As a committee on natural resources we thought issues of climate change would be lost to more pressing issues like oil, energy and minerals. We decided to form a climate change special committee especially by Members of Parliament who have a passion for it.
This kind of forum is intended to bring people together and is supposed to use their expertise on issues of climate change. We might be the first parliament in Africa to form this kind of committee.
Uganda is the chair of African Union committee on climate change. We have the moral obligation to not only set the pace but an initiative to form the first proactive forum for parliamentarians on climate change in Africa. We are doing this so that our brothers in other African parliaments follow suit.
Student participant:
We need to streamline and integrate climate change into our school curriculums. There is no institution or faculty in Uganda offering climate change courses. We can do more to strengthen the educational responses to this so that the issues of environmental change and climate change are part of us.
Jessica Eriyo:
Tree planting is an expensive investment. It is very hard to motivate everyone to plant trees. Those who have planted trees are going to be billionaires in the next decade. These people are already excited.
We want to formulate a policy on tree planting. It is an expensive venture but we want to scale it up and also set up a tree fund.
Nelson Sewankambo, the chairman African Initiative:
We have a dialogue, which should be emulated in our districts, as people go to Copenhagen to seal the deal- we have sealed the deal- because right now we have exchanged ideas and agreed to work together.
Jessica Eriyo:
This is a major landmark in the history of Africa, climate change and in Uganda. We have each benefited. It is rare to have a conference full to the end and an attentive audience. This shows the importance of the topic and the problem.