The
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is observed every year to
promote public awareness of international efforts to combat desertification.
The day is a unique moment to remind everyone that land
degradation neutrality (SDG 15.3) is achievable through problem-solving,
strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels.
Based
on the theme: “Land degradation and migration”, the 2017 World Day to Combat
Desertification and Drought, examines the important link between land
degradation and migration. Among others, environmental degradation, food
insecurity and poverty are causes of migration and development challenges.
According
to the UNCCD Secretariat, in just 15 years, the number of international
migrants worldwide has risen from 173 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2015.
Part
of the drivers of land degradation is the rapid population growth rates from
within and from outside Uganda’s borders, that demand for energy for cooking as
well as land for agriculture expansion. Hence, while Uganda’s forest cover in
2015 was 11 percent, having declined from 24 percent in 1990; the major
challenge for this decline of forest cover is de-forestation. Similarly,
the wetland cover the national area of wetlands declined by 30 per cent between
1994 and 2008 before increasing between 2008 and 2014 from 26,307km2 to 26,315
km2.
According
to Hilary Onek, Uganda’s Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, the
country is host
to over 1.2 million refugees, mainly South Sudanese, who have fled their
country ever since conflict broke up in December 2013. From July 2016 through
January 2017, more than 512,000 South Sudanese refugees arrived in Uganda at an
average of 2,400 refugees per day. The influx reached 3,000 a day for several
months, making Uganda the third-ranked refugee-hosting country in the world
with close to one million refugees.
The
Government of Uganda adopted the innovative
approach of integrating refugee management and protection into its Second
National Development Plan (NDPII) through the Settlement Transformative
Agenda (STA), in accordance with the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.
The STA aims to sustainably assist refugees and host communities by promoting
socioeconomic development in refugee-hosting areas, supported by the United
Nations through the Refugee and Host Population Empowerment (ReHope)
initiative, which was developed in collaboration with the World Bank.
Despite
these steps, refugee influx is presenting a clear
and present danger of profound environmental damage to areas where they
have settled, that are already poor, losing soil, entirely dependent on wood to
cook and build, and reliant on economic activities that degrade natural resources,
such as sand mining, which breaks down riverbanks, and charcoal, brick making
and tobacco curing, which consume millions of trees a year.
As
a result of the humanitarian concern, 50 National, Local and International
Organizations in Uganda met in Gulu District, June 7 – 8, 2017 to discuss their
role in refugee response. In their Gulu
communique, the various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have noted that while Uganda is known to have
one of the most progressive refugee policy, it is one of the worst funded refugee hosting
countries (funding gap stands at 85%), despite being third in ranking as a
country hosting refugees globally.
Among
other resolutions, the various CSOs resolved that programs that promote community
level early disaster warning, recovery, community-based disaster risk
management and joint contingency planning as well as develop strong local
economies in frontline districts where refugees are resident be designed and
implemented
They
also resolved that local and national actors identify any unintended effects of
humanitarian response at community level and develop appropriate approaches
with duty bearers to mitigate effects on environment, local relations and other
areas.
Read
the full Gulu Communique from here
