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Case study
SSHAP learning note: Building a localised approach
This learning note shares insights, experiences and lessons from SSHAP's approach to the localisation of its operational responses in sub-Saharan Africa.
Briefing
Food assistance prioritisation in refugee settlements in Uganda and its impacts sw
This brief considers the humanitarian and policy implications of the general food and cash assistance prioritisation strategy in Uganda’s refugee settlements.
Briefing
From data to action: How findings from an interagency rapid qualitative assessment are stimulating action to support drought-affected communities in Zambia
This brief shares findings and learnings from a rapid qualitative assessment to inform community engagement strategies and hold response actors accountable to affected populations.
Infographic
Responding to floods in South Sudan through the humanitarian-peace-development nexus infographic arfr
This infographic summarises the insights from a recent key considerations brief on responding to floods in South Sudan, describing the multidimensional impacts of flooding on peace, health, livelihoods and governance.
Briefing
Responding to floods in South Sudan through the humanitarian-peace-development nexus arfr
This Key Considerations brief looks at interconnected problems in the context of South Sudan through a focus on flooding, with wider relevance to other countries in the region, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, experiencing similar…
Briefing
Information Preparedness and Community Engagement for El Niño in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region frptes
El Niño can be viewed as a multi-hazard event, and considerations for information needs cut across different populations and risks, including direct weather-related hazards, reduced agricultural production, greater food insecurity and malnutrition, increased transmission of infectious diseases and effects on…
Report
Flood Assessment in South Sudan November 2022
Like many countries around the globe, South Sudan is facing unprecedented impacts of climate change. Since 2017, it has experienced heavy downpours which have resulted in rampant floods. For instance, between July and October 2021 alone, 856,000 people were affected…
Research paper
From crisis to context: Reviewing the future of sustainable charcoal in Africa
Is charcoal a sustainable energy source in Africa? This is a crucial question, given charcoal’s key importance to urban energy. In today’s dominant policy narrative – the charcoal-crisis narrative – charcoal is deemed incompatible with sustainable and modern energy, blamed…
Research paper
Perceptions and Attitudes towards Climate Change in Fishing Communities of the Sudd Wetlands, South Sudan
This study investigated local ecological knowledge concerning climate change in the Sudd Wetlands of South Sudan. Using semi-structured questionnaires, the authors found that South Sudanese fisherfolk perceived that they had been negatively affected by climate change over the past decade.…
Article
Borders areas should be used, not feared, in pandemic responses
This report moves beyond abstract assumptions and global-level debates to understand the reality of the struggles and strategies of local and national organisations during complex emergencies. We focus on the histories, politicoeconomic dynamics and everyday realities of South Sudanese NGOs…
Research paper
Friendship, kinship and social risk management strategies among pastoralists in Karamoja, Uganda
This paper describes risk-pooling friendships and other social networks among pastoralists in Karamoja, Uganda. Social networks are of critical importance for risk management in an environment marked by volatility and uncertainty. Risk management or risk pooling mainly takes the form of…
Book chapter
From violent conflict to slow violence: climate change and post-conflict recovery in Karamoja, Uganda
In literature examining climate change as a potential factor in violent conflict, violence is generally conceived as a readily-apparent, time-bound event. Conversely, the ontologies of slow violence emphasize the insidious ways in which environmental change can, itself, impart violence. This…
Research paper
Land is now the biggest gun: climate change and conflict in Karamoja, Uganda
Places that are both recovering from violent conflict and dependent on natural recourses face the overlapping challenges of reducing the risk of recurring conflict, promoting economic recovery, and ensuring sustainable environmental management: all challenges exacerbated by climate change. This article…
Research paper
Perceptions and Vulnerability to Climate Change among the Urban Poor in Kampala City, Uganda
Climate risks and vulnerability continue to disproportionately affect the urban poor given their constrained adaptive capacity. This paper examines the urban poor’s perceptions and vulnerability to climate change in Kampala through structured interviews and focus groups with randomly selected households…
Background report
‘Drought as War’ in Northern Uganda: Exploring the Complex Relationship Between Climate Change, Scarcity, and Conflict
That climate change will increase the incidence of violent conflict is a common claim made by both policymakers and climate change activists. I aim to question and critique the simplistic assertion that climate change will cause increased violent conflict, showing…
Briefing
MONUSCO’s Mandate and the Climate Security Nexus
If we translate the debate on the climate security nexus to a more operational level, we inevitably arrive at the question of whether and to what extent the fight against climate change should be included in the mandate of current…
Background report
South Sudan’s Devastating Floods: Why There is a Need for Urgent Resilience Measures
Written in collaboration with Flood Management Initiative, this paper reviews the extent of the flooding in Bor Town in 2020. Using GPS depth measurements and discussions with local residents, the paper first charts the extent of flooding that year, before…
Research paper
The Influence of Governance Rearrangements on Flood Risk Management in Kampala, Uganda
The importance of governance rearrangements (reassignment of positions, roles, and responsibility among actors in governance processes) and their implications on flood risk management has gained currency. However, much work has concentrated on building and applying frameworks to evaluate impacts of…
Research paper
Capitalizing Community: Waste, Wealth, and (Im)Material Labor in Kampal
Biomass briquettes have emerged as a development silver bullet, supposedly converting waste to wealth and tackling crises of unemployment, urban waste management, and rural deforestation. Briquettes have captured the imagination of international environmental NGOs operating in many African cities who…
Background report
South Sudan’s Devastating Floods: Why They Happen and Why They Need a Coherent National Policy
Drawing on flood incident data and climate change evidence, this paper argues that floods should now be viewed as a perpetual threat to lives, property and infrastructure in South Sudan. The author calls for immediate efforts to adapt and mitigate…
Research paper
The political economy of landslides and international aid relief: a qualitative investigation in rural Uganda
Linking environmental degradation in Bududa to political, economic, and social factors provides a broader context in which to view risk from landslides in this community, as a critical case in demonstrating how economic globalization benefits some at the expense of…
Policy document
Confronting a Life-threatening Pollution: A Guide for Credible Environmental and Social Audit of Petroleum Companies’ Operations in South Sudan
This policy brief discusses how the recently proposed environmental and social audit of the petroleum companies’ operations by the Ministry of Petroleum can be conducted to generate scientific evidence that can assist in finding a permanent solution to pollution in…
Research paper
Maintenance Space: The Political Authority of Garbage in Kampala, Uganda
In the name of cleaning up Kampala’s political institutions and public space, the Kampala Cap ital City Authority (KCCA), was established in 2010. To legitimize its contested and explicitly antipolitical authority, it made garbage collection and beautification its top priority,…
Research paper
Climate Change and Young People in Uganda: A Literature Review
The review findings suggest the need for substantial youth informed interventions to bolster young people’s economic resilience and adaptive capacity given the worsening climate change and prolonged population growth.
Research paper
Urban Climate Change, Livelihood Vulnerability and Narratives of Generational Responsibility in Jinja, Uganda
There is an urgent need to understand lived experiences of climate change in African cities, where even small climate shocks can have significant implications for the livelihoods of the urban poor. This article examines narratives of climate and livelihood changes…
Policy document
Climate Services Model for South Sudan’s Rural Farmers and Agro-pastoralists
This paper analyses a pilot study which used regional climate services to provide farmers in South Sudan with user-friendly seasonal weather information to inform their day-to-day farming activities, based on a similar service in Uganda. Taking place in rural Tonj…
Policy document
Climate Change and Gender in South Sudan
This study analyses existing literature and empirical data (including rainfall, temperature, health and nutrition, and climate disaster data) to investigate the difference in gender impacts of climate-related hazards in South Sudan. The authors argue that in South Sudan, women are…
Policy document
Climate Change and Conflicts in South Sudan
This study investigates the extent of climate change, variability and the incidents of climate disaster events and links with conflicts in South Sudan using meteorological data, records of conflicts, floods and droughts. The authors found that temperatures have increased and…
Research paper
Climate change and variability: a review of what is known and ought to be known for Uganda
This review of scientific research findings aims to create a better understanding of the recent climate change and variability in Uganda and provides a baseline of summarized information for use in future research and actions.
Background report
Building Climate Resilience in Fragile Contexts: Key Findings of BRACED Research in South Sudan
This paper is a synthesis of key findings from research undertaken with the BRACED research portfolio which aimed to influence and strengthen the delivery of BRACED programming in South Sudan and national and subnational climate related programming in the future.…
Research paper
From disaster to devastation: drought as war in northern Uganda
This paper proposes a shift from the concept of disaster to one of devastation when dealing with the destructive consequences of climate change. It argues that today, a discourse of climate-change disaster has become dominant, in which present disasters are…
Research paper
Public Authority and Conservation in Areas of Armed Conflict: Virunga National Park as a ‘State within a State’ in Eastern Congo
Much research on nature conservation in war-torn regions focuses on the destructive impact of violent conflict on protected areas, and argues that transnational actors should step up their support for those areas to mitigate the risks that conflict poses to…
Research paper
How Seasonality and Weather affect Perinatal Health: Comparing the Experiences of indigenous and Non-Indigenous Mothers in Kanungu District, Uganda
Maternal and newborn health disparities and impacts of climate change present grand challenges for global health equity, and there remain knowledge gaps on how these challenges intersect. This study examines how mothers are affected by seasonal and meteorological factors in…
Policy document
Land Tenure in South Sudan: Does it Promote Climate Change Resilience?
The authors analyse the South Sudanese Land Act 2009 with respect to its promotion of climate change resilience. Drawing on prior work and primary data, they argue that while the 2009 Land Act does contain clauses intended to promote climate…
Research paper
Charcoal power: The political violence of non-fossil fuel in Uganda
Charcoal is important in Africa due to its centrality to urbanization. Despite this, the politics of charcoal remain largely unexplored. This article asks how political power shapes charcoal production and how charcoal as an energy source shapes political power through…
Research paper
Fishers’ perceptions of climate change, impacts on their livelihoods and adaptation strategies in environmental change hotspots: a case of Lake Wamala, Uganda
Fisheries resources support livelihoods of fishing communities but are threatened by over-exploitation, habitat degradation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. We identified adaptation strategies, which if promoted and their constraints addressed, could increase resilience of fishers to the influence of…