By Godiver Asege
The students of Kyambogo University have been urged to get involved in the fight for climate justice as a way of dealing with the effects of climate change.
Reagan Elijah, the founder of Debt for Climate Uganda, told a workshop midway through this week that there is a need to train young people on climate change matters.
Making a case for their involvement, he said if disaster struck, it would disrupt education, as well as agriculture, which many parents depend on to send and keep their children in school.
Elijah said climate disasters increase the number of school dropouts.
“We have decided to move our campaign to universities because we believe the university is a center of knowledge, and these are young people who are also facing and battling the impacts of climate change,” he said.
The workshop was jointly organized by Debt for Climate Uganda and End Fossil Occupy Uganda at Kyambogo University on Wednesday.
According to Elijah, talking about climate matters to university students will result in more voices for environmental movements and them being part of the movement as well as taking responsibility to fight for climate justice.
He said African governments accumulate huge debts from borrowing from
He added that whenever climate disasters occur in Africa, our governments have to turn to the governments of the Global North and financial institutions such as the World Bank to combat them.
“We are calling for debt cancellation and that the money used to pay the debts instead be diverted and invested in renewable energy because we believe that is the only way Uganda can fight climate change,” said Elijah.
Climate activist Edwin Namakanga said there is a need to join forces to fight climate change, warning that if nothing is done, “we shall all suffer”.
One way out is to plant trees as part of environmental conservation, he said.
“We have to divert from fossil fuels and start transiting towards a just and sustainable future for all of us,” said Nicholas Omonuk, another climate activist.
Kyambogo University guild president, Edwin Wafula, said climate change affects everyone, so everyone must care.
“I call upon everyone to take climate change issues seriously and advocate for something that can better our climate, regardless of what you are doing.”
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