Appraising climate services in Uganda: Impact on adaptation and mitigation of climate change

Abstract

Climate change is a serious challenge globally more so in developing countries. This has led to increased need for climate services to facilitate decision making by the indigenous communities at the grassroots. The indigenous communities including the farmers, pastoralists, fisher folks are engaged in various activities which basically rely on climate. The indigenous communities are illiterate, are concealed in poverty and have little access to climate information. Data was collected through Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews. The paper finds that statutory agencies are offering climate services that are fairly contextualized however they are presented in a scientific language hardly understood by the indigenous communities. As a result, the indigenous communities’ awareness on the changing climate is low and they are not making informed adaptation and mitigation decisions. There is need for robust generation and dissemination of climate information that is localized and presented in acceptable language through mediums accessible to the indigenous communities.