A pressing need for adaptation
Uganda, a landlocked country in East Africa with a population of over 45 million, has an economy largely driven by agriculture, though the services and industrial sectors are growing.
As a Least Developed Country (LDC), Uganda faces challenges such as poverty and infrastructure gaps, but it has made significant progress in education, health, and economic reforms. Despite its negligible contribution to global emissions (0.099 percent), Uganda is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Ranked 13th in vulnerability and 160th in readiness, the country faces increasingly frequent and severe weather events such as floods, droughts, and erratic rainfall. These extreme events are causing landslides, water shortages, and crop failures and other impacts, which threaten Uganda's socio-economic progress.
LIFE-AR as a means to strengthen the country’s ability to adapt to climate change
Following a request by the state minister for Environment in 2018, Uganda officially joined the LIFE-AR initiative in November 2020. A task force was established to draft a concept note on how LIFE AR would be implemented in Uganda. The concept note recommended the Devolved Climate Finance (DCF) mechanism as the preferred approach to deliver climate finance for local adaptation and resilience building. This mechanism aligns with Uganda's devolved governance system, integrates climate change into local planning, and supports the country’s National Climate Change Policy, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and National Development Plan. The initiative aims to build Uganda's climate resilience by supporting community-driven climate action, with at least 70% of funding directed toward local priorities.
LIFE AR in Uganda will strengthen in-country capabilities, systems and institutions for climate action, ensuring that there’s sustained funding for climate action and that at least 70% of this funding supports community priorities.
