Climate Change and Young People in Uganda: A Literature Review

• Author: Paul Magimbi,Anthony Mugeere,Anna Barford
• DOI: 10.1177/10704965211047159
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Journal of Environment &

Development

2021, Vol. 30(4) 344–368

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/10704965211047159

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Climate Change and

Young People in Uganda:

A Literature Review

Anthony Mugeere

1

, Anna Barford

2

,

and Paul Magimbi

1

Abstract

The disruptions of anthropogenic climate change are increasingly severe. People living

in sub-Saharan Africa are especially exposed to these risks, and amongst them young

people. It is well established that climate disruptions have the potential to halt edu-

cation, displace populations, and wreck infrastructure. This rigorous literature review

focuses on climate change in the landlocked East African country of Uganda, de-

mographically the world’s third youngest country, where young people struggle to get

by due to insuff‌icient work opportunities. Extended to other countries in the Eastern

and Central African region, the review considers what is known about the intersection

of youth livelihoods and climate change; young people’s susceptibility to climate

disruption due to limited resources and livelihood options; and the constraints around

their responses. The review f‌indings suggest the need for substantial youth informed

interventions to bolster young people’s economic resilience and adaptive capacity given

the worsening climate change and prolonged population growth.

Keywords

youth, livelihoods, work, policy, Africa, environment, activism

Introduction

No continent will be struck as severely by the impacts of climate change as Africa.

United Nations Environment Programme, undated.

1

Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

2

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Corresponding Author:

Anthony Mugeere, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Makerere University, Kampala 7062, Uganda.

Email: mugeere2010@gmail.com

Climate change disproportionately affects young people. The impact of climate

change upon the livelihoods of young people in Uganda—now and in the future—

presents two contradictions. Firstly,the poorest and most vulnerable young people are

the most exposed to climate shocks—despite their negligible role in driving climate

change. Secondly, these same young people offer insights which could be in-

strumental in addressing climate change, yet such insights are rarely sought. This

scenario is not unique to Uganda; rapid population growth in the rest of the countries

in the East and Central African countries, has led to large youth populations whose

circumstances and geographical location combine to make them particularly vul-

nerable to the impacts of climate change (Barford et al., 2021). In part, this vul-

nerability stems from livelihood opportunities becoming increasingly constrained in

the face of growing competition for jobs driven in part by population pressure, in

a context of insuff‌icient labor market demand. This has been exacerbated by recent

economic shocks and increased worklessness associated with the COVID-19 pan-

demic (ILO, 2020;Fox et al., 2020;Barford et al., 2020). Insuff‌icient work and

working poverty equate to fewer resources with which an individual or household can

build resilience to both rapid and slow onset environmental change (Adger et al.,

2014). Thus, poverty and climate change can aggravate one another (Mf‌itumukiza,

2021).

Uganda, positioned within its wider East African regional context, is expected to be

on track for shorter wet spells and a slight increase in heavy rainfall. Yet these projected

environmental changes have strong geographical and temporal variability, which are

smoothed when focusing on annual averages and regional trends. Other predictions

emphasize the increases in high intensity and sporadic rainfall events (Christensen

et al., 2017). With an estimated population growth of 2.8% per year, in an environment

of shrinking natural resources, including land availability and water resources, the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes climate change as

a threat multiplier, exacerbating existing problems including conf‌licts and economic

insecurity.

Home to the Congo Basin forests and the second largest tropical forest area in the

world, many Central African countries to the north and south of the Congo Basin

forest are projected to be severely affected by climate change. Impacts such as

increased variability in agricultural production could exacerbate the refugee sit-

uation in the region arising from the migration of the diverse populations from these

countries (including young people) highlighting the need for climate change ad-

aptation options (Davis & Gephart, 2018). Many Central African countries have

sought mitigation and adaptation funding to protect their forestry heritage

(Clionadh et al., 2015). With many countries in the Central and Eastern Africa

region currently categorized in the “least developed country”group (Tab le 1), it is

adiff‌icult combination of social and environmental factors that prompt this lit-

erature review, in which we seek to understand the challenges to climate change

mitigation and adaptation by the youth.

The shocks and underlying stressors associated with climate change—drought,

f‌loods, heat stress, f‌ires, sea level rise, storm drainage, pests, and other impacts—are

Mugeere et al. 345