INTRODUCE THE USE OF SOLAR SYSTEMS IN REFUGEE CAMPS TO COMBAT ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
The massive degradation of the vegetation cover has contributed to the outbreak of prolonged drought, the change of seasons, and drastic climate change, among others.
By Guest Writer
OPINION: Editor’s Note: Last week, the media reported about the residents urging to revive the forests in Bidibidi refugee camp in Yumbe district.
This is because the refugees and the host communities have been cutting down the trees for daily needs such as cooking, construction, opening land for agriculture, and others.
It is noted that the activities done using the trees have contributed to the loss of over 98% of the forest cover in the district, especially the destruction of indigenous trees like Afrikana, Mahogany, Afuzilia, and others.
The massive degradation of the vegetation cover has contributed to the outbreak of prolonged drought, the change of seasons, and drastic climate change, among others.
The massive degradation of the vegetation cover in Yumbe district instigated the local leadership to think of a bylaw to be developed so that the homestead can plant trees to save the environment. This was a very good idea because it aims to protect critical ecosystems in the area.
The leadership of Yumbedistrict should know that the introduction of the bylaw may not help much to combat the massive degradation in the Refugee camp and the host communities. They also need to put some other alternatives that can be used by the people alongside the bylaw to save the environment.
The leadership and the non-governmental organizations (NGO), banks, and faith-based organizations should ensure that other alternatives are put in place to help the residents improve their livelihoods and protect the forest cover, for instance, clean energy-saving stoves, smart agriculture activities, the use of charcoal briskets, solar cookers that produce no greenhouse gas emissions, and the use of Solar cooking is a proven thermal process that uses appropriate technology to convert incoming sunlight directly to heat without using complex or costly equipment or electronics.
Additionally, solar thermal cookers are off-grid, and a solution that can be implemented relatively quickly with no large-scale infrastructure required is a cross-cutting solution that has a positive impact on all 17 SDGs of the United Nations Agenda 2030.
Solar thermal ovens provide households access to clean and sustainable cooking energy, particularly households that have challenges of accessing energy for cooking and making water safe to drink.
The use of solar systems and other alternatives needs to be introduced in Bidibidi refugee camps and other refugee camps across the country and Africa in order to save the environment from massive degradation of critical biodiversity.
This practice of the use of solar cookers has been seen in some Refugee camps in East Africa, particularly Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, Kiryandongo, and Bidi Bidi camps on a small scale, meaning that the same advocacy can be used to ensure that all the camps in Uganda and Africa at large have a good, big, and standardized solar cooker that can help to comb the massive deforestation of the sensitive eco-system.
Therefore, I call on all the interested non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Banks, faith-based organizations, and UNHCR to introduce the use of solar cookers in all Refugee camps and the host communities in Uganda and Africa at large in order to improve the livelihoods of the people, increase jobs, and increase the conservation efforts of theenvironment.t.
The author is Kato Paul, a research associate and Environmental activist.
Disclaimer: As UG Reports Media LTD, we welcome any opinion from anyone if it’s constructive for the development of Uganda. All the expressions and opinions in this write-up are not those of UG Reports Media Ltd. but of the author of the article.
Would you like to share your opinion with us? Please send it to this email: theugreports@gmail.com.
