Briefing Paper

Conserving the Environment and Enhancing Community Resilience: The Key Climate Change Priorities during and after COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated nations leaving many people dead and others vulnerable to hunger and poverty. Many people – especially those employed in the informal sector – have lost their jobs and livelihoods. Most of them have resorted to natural resources-based activities for survival. Uganda has largely been able to sustain supply of food because the agriculture sector remained operational during the lockdown and there were no adverse climate change shocks that affected the supply of food. Therefore, the pandemic has demonstrated Uganda’s reliance on natural resources and the need to keep its natural resource and environment base productive and manage it sustainably both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is against this background therefore, that this policy brief argues for the conservation of the environment during and after the COVID-19 pandemic while at the same time enhancing community resilience to climate change shocks. The brief proposes
recommendations that need to be addressed by the Government of Uganda and all
stakeholders in this sector in order to achieve sustainable development.