Narratives of Change: savING millions of Trees from an Axe in Kiryandongo, Uganda
by Apuuni Godfrey
Laying the foundation
In Kinyara I, a small village in Kiryandongo District Western Uganda climate change is happening at a lightening speed.
In everyhome across the district trees are being cut down either for farm land or charcoal.
However an axe has been laid on trees mainly for charcoal reasons. Charcoal and firewood are used for cooking food as coal in most communities across Uganda.
Natural forest cover has been dwindling each passing year.
The real crisis
The ugly truth now is that natural trees are now depleted.There are no trees to be cut down anymore. People have resorted to using dry maize stalks; maize cobs and dry Cassava stalks to boil food in my village. Maize stalks and cassava stalks can hardly sustain any cooking. It is just a desperate attempt to adapt to the new reality of climate change by the local community.
The shocking discovery
What is even surprising is the shocking discovery that many homes even in Ugandan cities do not use electricity to cook food but rely heavily on charcoal and firewood from rural communities like kiryandongo and others.
Bakeries and schools are the major consumers of charcoal and firewood when they should be using electricity. This puts pressure on the little remaining forests such as Budongo and Mabira forests in west and Eastern Uganda respectively. Pressure is also mounted on forests in Northern Uganda further worsening climate change.
The potential for Uganda's energy sector
Despite all the above challenges, a gigantic power line is towering across Kiryandongo District close to my village with 600 mega watts of power from Karuma dam headed to the national grid, Villagers can't help but stare at the powerline. Karuma is just one of Uganda's electricity dam project.
With Uganda positioning itself as the African giant in the area of electricity and even exporting it to her neighbours , it would be wise for Uganda to ramp up her rural electricification programme .
Uganda is even contemplating on nuclear energy adding to the might of Uganda's energy capacity.
In my village for example there is electricity in some parts but no body is using it for cooking.
Conclusion
If government ramps up rural electrification; subsides power tarrifs and electricity is affordable and accessible to everyone, the world could go green in Kiryandongo and Uganda at large so quickly by a certain margin.Millions of trees could be saved from the axe.
About
Apuuni Godfrey is a Christian gospel preacher and has influenced many in his village to plant thousands of trees. He is a nature lover who loves to see nature in its natural form. Apuuni also loves to talk about the plight of the downtrodden in Uganda as a compassionate gospel preacher. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Christian Religious Studies from the University of Jos Nigeria.
