KAMPALA – The Climate Change Action East Africa (CCAEA) and the Climate Action Network Uganda (CAN_U) are organizing the second edition East Africa Food Security Symposium and Expo for October this year at Makerere University Business School, Nakawa Campus, they said on Friday, September 29, 2023
The three-day East Africa Food Security Symposium and Expo will run from October 19 to 21.
Tom Okia Okurut, the executive director, Climate Change Action East Africa said the second symposium will be an avenue to promote awareness of the linkages of the impacts of climate change to the food security issue.
It will promote open discussion within the food production chain and systems with a focus on safeguarding communities from hunger in Uganda, the East Africa region, Africa, and the world as a global village facing the same challenges.
The climate adaptation and resilience initiatives which can be enhanced and reinforced in Uganda and East Africa as a region will be high on the agenda at the symposium and expo. The technologies that will be exhibited will be critical to current practitioners and new sector entrants, he told reporters at a press conference.
The symposium theme: Responding to Climate Change Impacts to Food Security within the East Africa region” will be unpacked into Sustainability of Ecosystem based Adaptation production systems, Climate Change proofing of the food systems chainage in Uganda and Digital technology applications in mitigating climate change impact and enhancement of food security.
Others are Climate Smart Agriculture – a myth or a reality in the context of Uganda’s rural and urban farmers? And Climate Financing options in developing countries- the illusory factors.
“The event brings enormous opportunities for participants such as: exposure and networking, building new markets for their products, advancing practical policy solutions, exchanging experiences and learning about new climate-relevant technologies, and accessing a big communication platform,” Dr. Okurut said.
He urged all players in Climate Change and Food Security to play an active role in the symposium. “We must move away from Board rooms to the real field and demonstrate action to the population,” he said, adding that collective action from individuals, community, national and international actors is what is required to respond to this existential threat of Climate Change.”
Eng Stephen Lwalanda a food security expert said that food is highly contaminated due to our actions harming Mother Earth.
Citing recent figures, he said there is a rise in intestinal diseases in the country due to the consumption of toxic food.
“Intestinal diseases are on a spike in the country because of poisonous food that we consume, the food we eat is 100 times contaminated due to the things we have done to destroy Mother Earth,” he said.
A recent Oxfam report on the hunger crisis in East Africa shows that the region is one of the world’s worst-hit regions by climate change and is now experiencing its worst climate.
