I remember it like it was yesterday. This was 1983. At first the dry weather never bothered us. In fact we welcomed it. We wanted to play soccer and the rain was a hindrance to our childhood enjoyment and ambitions.
The year before the football World Cup had been held in Spain and our imagination was still fired up by man-of-the-tournament Paulo Rossi. We all wanted to play in the World Cup one day. Rain would only slow down our ambitions in that direction.
But soon playing soccer was nearly impossible as the school field was rendered unplayable by a network of cracks wider and deeper than I had ever seen before or since. By the time the rains came, the field was a dust bowl with yellow and white patches, the only proof of grass.
"Across the border from us Ethiopia and Somalia were suffering the brunt of the drought. It was so bad it took an international response, triggered by the song “We are world" performed by the world’s leading artists of the time....
That same drought also brought with it the photograph seared in our collective memories of the vulture perched on a dried log, watching a badly emaciated child, who squatting on its haunches, had as if stopped to give up on life, its final breath seemed imminent. And the vulture knew it.
If ever there was a case for the cliche a picture is worth thousand words, that was it.
Forty years later the horn of Africa is faced by the worst drought since that drought of my childhood, and an ongoing “Safal Eye in the Wild Photography competition" sponsored by Uganda Baati is timely. The competition that was launched in July and ends 15th September it is hoped in its small way, can help galvanise opinion in support of environmental conservation.
God forbid a similar award-winning photograph will present itself, but now more than ever world opinion needs to be mobilised to fight back the existential threat of climate change.
Already this year the hottest temperatures in recent memory have been recorded . It has been so hot that forest fires have been raging in North America laying waste to half of Hawaii and much of western Canada. No lesser fires ave been reported in Spain, France and Romania this year.
On the flip side California is enjoying rain for the first time in five years but it has come with hellacious intensity resulting in flooding and massive displacement.
Nearer to home climate change has led to the aforementioned drought in the horn of Africa but also apocalyptic flooding in Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar South Africa and Zimbabwe.
But the doubters remain, blinded to the looming threat by ignorance or worse, by self-interest.
"Climate change is being driven by growing consumerism which has led to wanton destruction of the environment, especially indiscriminate depletion of forest cover, which in the past helped to mitigate against climate change...
The trees absorbed the carbon emissions from the atmosphere, which are largely responsible for the rising temperatures and the changes in the climate that come with it.
In case you have not worked it out, for a country like Uganda which is largely agricultural there is no way we can ignore the growing trend.
Climate change can very well affect our capacity to produce food. An issue of concern especially as our population continues to grow by leaps and bounds, putting added strain our natural resources. We have had the luxury of continuing with our inefficient farming methods because we have fertile soils and rains year around. Climate change means among other things, our soils are losing their vitality and our water sources are dwindling.
Uganda for example has seen its forest cover plummet to 9 percent in 2015 from 24 percent in 1990. Recovery to 12.5 percent has been reported but clearly the reforestation is just barely keeping up with the destruction.
But the real challenge of the battle to beat back climate change is that there has to be a global response. Environmental degradation or irresponsible carbon emissions in New Zealand or Alaska can affect Uganda’s climate in the middle of Africa.
We can plant all the trees we want, reduce our emissions through the use of clean energy and energy saving technologies, but this will count for nothing if western economies continue with their unsustainable lifestyles.
"The case can be made that climate change is driving even the break out of civil unrest and war around the world and particularly in Africa, as governments fail to facilitate greater efficiencies in exploitation and distribution of existing resources. Matters will not get any better with the environmental degradation and the ensuing climate change.
The need for a global response is a moot point and cannot be overemphasised. The use of visual images transcend language, culture or ideology as a means to drive the point home about the urgency of w collective call to action against climate change.
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