Over 95% of households in Kabale district use biomass fuels (firewood and charcoal) to cook on traditional stoves. This reliance on firewood presents mothers with impossible choices. They gamble with the risk of rape and other life threatening attacks during their search for much needed firewood, in order to feed their families. In certain areas, local sources of firewood are completely depleted, leading women to travel further and further afield or to dig up tree roots, eliminating any chance of the trees growing again. Even if women survive this, they are still exposing themselves and their children to potentially deadly black smoke that gets inside theirs and their children’s’ lungs, slowly poisoning them.
On the other hand, many of the agricultural wastes in Uganda are still largely underutilized and left to rot or openly burned in the fields. Agricultural waste burning is a common practice in hill areas of Kabale district as a means of clearing land rapidly and inexpensively and allowing tillage practices to proceed unimpeded by residual crop material. Little do farmers know that it is a source of the major atmospheric pollutants. Agricultural waste burning releases pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide and particles (smoke carbon). These pollutants are accompanied by the formation of ozone and nitric acid, hence contributing to acid deposition thereby posing risk to human and ecological health. It’s important to note that all life is dependent on natural resources, from the water we drink to the fossil fuels we use for energy. Human activities are made possible by the limited resources that are available. The quality of the natural world directly affects everything and everyone in it.
GWEFODE is tackling this issue by promoting effective use of appropriate technology for sustainable use of natural resources, environmental conservation and climate change mitigation through
- Training Women and Youth in Energy Saving Techniques such as the making of Charcoal Briquettes from waste paper and use of more fuel-efficient energy cooking stoves which are easy to use
- Working in collaboration with established Agricultural bodies like Operation Wealth Creation, National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), Kachwekano Zonal Research and Development Institute (KAZARDI), Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA) and others to mainstream/integrate proper farming practices that do not degrade the environment.