Uganda through the Climate Change Action East Africa (CCAEA) and the International University of East Africa (IUEA), will from October 14-16, 2022, host the first-ever Regional Climate Change and Food Security symposium and expo.
This will be an avenue to promote awareness of the linkages of the impacts of climate change to the food security issue.
It will also promote open discussions within the food production chain and systems with a focus on safeguarding communities from hunger in Uganda, the East Africa region, Africa and the world as a global village facing the same challenges.
Presiding over the unveiling event, Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, said many parts of East Africa in the past year have been experiencing hunger due to acute food shortages.
He noted that the recent images from the Karamoja sub-region in Uganda attest to this, however, food distribution logistics and extreme poverty may be the main drivers given the availability of food in the markets and the other parts of the country.
“Food insecurity occurrences signal a failure or absence of strategic response systems including food insecurity threat detection, storage, transportation, distribution, processing, seed preservation and effective utilization of food,” Kasaija said.
Kasaija noted that the fluctuations in food production and availability due to climate change impacts can only, therefore, be mitigated if smallholder farmers’ productive capacity and productivity are deliberately enhanced.
He said that the government is currently focusing attention on climate change that is driving food insecurity through the introduction of specific strategies for farmers such as investing in micro-scale irrigation schemes and taking over seed production.
Dr. Tom Okia OKurut, the Executive Director of Climate Change Action East Africa, said that they have decided and planned to hold the Food Security Symposia and Expos annually in the capitals of the EAC Partner States as the most imperative way of promoting awareness of climate change impacts for consequential energization of countries to plan and budget for climate change impact and as well implement their national commitments.
Okurut explained that the regional countries adaptation to climate change impact is the main response strategy given the low emissions from the region.
“The sectorial approaches; forests, water, and environment perspectives dominate the discourse food insecurity linkages to climate change don’t come out prominently and as such, government planning for climate change impact interventions focuses on directly impacted aspects,” OKurut added.
Ronald Robert Lwabaayi, Team Leader of Climate Change Action East Africa, said the overall aim of holding the symposium and expo is to increase climate change resilience and food security awareness in East Africa.
He said the event is expected to increase understanding of the risks associated with climate change on food systems and natural hazards; promote the application of early warning systems to reduce humanitarian and extreme impacts of climate change on society, among others.
Hassan Alwi, Chairperson of Commercialization of Innovations at IUEA, noted that they are are thrilled to provide an opportunity for interaction and engagement among those involved in the food chain systems such as farmers, transporters, cold food chains, and agro-industrial sectors among others in the identification of gaps and finding local solutions for climate change-driven food insecurity.
A special session for farmers to present their innovations and technological solutions is part of this symposium.
The symposium themed: “Linking Climate Change To Food Security, Nutrition And Wellbeing” will be unpacked in papers covering; Climate change impacts manifestation and its deliberative impacts on the food systems and society’s wellbeing, Climate changes resilient practices, and indigenous technologies’ responsiveness to food insecurity risks, among others.