Uganda is a multi faceted country that possesses a variety of geophysical features such as several lakes,

rivers, bodies of water and mountain ranges and these imbue her with a diverse and naturally variable cli-
mate that is susceptible to the recurring floods and drought which have negatively impacted Uganda’s socio-
economic sector. It is a well established fact that Uganda is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts and
these impacts have the potential or even the impacts are already being manifested to halt the national devel-
opment trajectory threatening key socioeconomic sectors like fisheries, water resources, forestry, energy,
health, human settlements among others. Due to this negative impact of the climate change on Uganda’s so-
cioeconomic sector, steps have been taken to combat this through policy and legislative action inorder to
build resilience and promote climate-compatible development through climate change adaptation and mitiga-
tion while at the same time promoting economic and social development.
Uganda is party to a host of agreements on climate change such as the United Nations Framework Conven-
tion on Climate Change UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement and also a member of the
East African Community1 which has established the East African Community Climate Change Policy which
obliges East African Community member states to establish national climate change policy frameworks,
mainstream climate change into national development plans and sectoral policies and plans; and initiate and
develop consistent and harmonised policies and plans to address climate change. Pursuant to the above men-
tioned involvement in these international and regional legal regimes, Uganda is going through the process of
establishing a comprehensive climate change governance framework which are discussed.
Due to the recognition of the prior mentioned UNFCCC, Uganda was recognised as being one of the most
vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change due to the fact of it being a Low Developing Country
and this has an effect the UNFCCC developed National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) as a fo-
rum for countries such as Uganda to identify and request for funding for programmes that would enable
adaption measures2 and a result Uganda submitted its National Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UN-
FCCC in 2015 and in this NDC there included adaptation and mitigation measures and prioritised sectors.
This NAPA enabled domestic adaptation planning in countries such as Uganda and this was seen subse-
quently with the coming up of the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) whose purpose was to integrate
climate change into the National Development Plan (NDP) of Uganda, sectoral policies, plans and pro-
grammes. The intention of the NCCP was not to replace prior existing sectoral policies but rather to provide
harmonious framework in acceptance of the fact that climate change is a multi sectoral issue and therefore
stakeholders in all these sectors must be included in coming up of policy and subsequent implementation of
these policies. This NCCP and associated Implementation Strategy were approved in April 2015 let by the
Ministry of Water and Environment3 and the major aim of the NCCP was to ensure that all stakeholders ad-
dress climate change impacts and there causes through appropriate measures while promoting sustainable de-
velopment and a green economy. To achieve this aim, the NCCP in effect established institutions such as the
National Climate Change Commission, Policy Committee on Environment and the National Climate Change
Advisory Committee all of these to assist and guide with monitoring, and guiding the NCCP implementation.
To reflect Agriculture as a priority sector in regards to the achievement of national targets as seen in the Na-
tional Vision 20404, Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the NDC, the National Adaptation
Plan for the Agricultural Sector was approved in 2018 with an aim of improving the adaptability of Uganda’s
Agricultural sector from the negative effects caused by the climate change through policies and measures
that enhance sustainable agriculture and food security and subsequently improving of livelihoods of the
Ugandans which consequently leads to sustainable development.
Ministry of Water and Environment developed guidelines for the integration of climate change in Sector
Plans and Budgets in 2014 that provided for a systematic approach to climate change in national sector bud-

1 East African Community, ‘Climate Change Policy EACI RC Repository’ (April 2011)
<http://repository.eac.int/bitstream/handle/ 11671/538/EAC%20Climate%20Change%20Policy_April
%202011.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y> accessed 2 November 2022.
2 Mary Nyasimi et al, Uganda’s National Adaptation Programme of Action: Implementation, Challenges
and EmergingLessons’ (2016) <https://ccafs.cgiar .org/publications/uganda%E2%80%99s -national-adapta-
tion-programme-action-implementation -challenges-and-emerging#.XeU9ytVCeUk> accessed 2 November
2022; Michal Nachmany et al, ‘Climate Change Legislation in Uganda’(2015) <https://www .ugandanet-
works.org/Publisher/File .aspx?ID=173198> accessed 2 November 2022.
3 Ministry of Water and Environment, ‘Uganda National Climate Change Policy 2015’ (2015).
4 Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; ‘National Adaptation Plan for the Agricultural
Sector’(2018) <https://www.agriculture.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/National-Adaptation-Plan-for -
the-Agriculture-Sector .pdf> accessed 2 November 2022.
getary plans5 and the purpose of these were to support the conducting of environmental impact assessments,
adaptation measures, implementation at all grassroots levels.
For the effectiveness of the NCCP, there has to exist a strong and sound legislative framework in place to
transform policies into implementable actions.
Though Uganda has these in place such as the Constitution6, National Environmental Act7, it has lacked a
more specific legislative framework to tackle the negative impacts of climate change. As a result, the Cabinet
in 2019 approved the Climate Change Bill8 which strives to act as focal point in creating multi-institutional
support in regards to implementing a coordinated approach to national climate change and in effect ensuring
Uganda meets its obligations to the agreements that it is a party to. This Bill incorporates environmental
agreements such ass there UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol in its schedules 2 and 3 respectively.

5 MWE, ‘Guidelines for the Integration of Climate Change in Sector Plans and Budgets’ 2014
<http://ccd.go.ug/wp-content/ uploads/2018/04/National-Climate-Change-Mainstreaming -Guidelines-.pdf>
accessed 2 November 2022.
6 1995 Constitution, As Amended
7 Cap 5, 2019
8 Climate Change Department in the Ministry of Water and Environment ‘The National Climate Change
Bill’ (2017) <https://www .mediacentre.go.ug/media/cabinet-decisions-taken-during-cabinet -meeting-held-
monday-25thmarch-2019>