By INNOCENT KIIZA
Kasese, Uganda – As torrential rains continue to wash away crops, homes, and hope in Uganda’s mountainous regions, women like Mary Kyakimwa and Jannet Abwoli in Kasese District are stepping up. Armed not with modern engineering tools but ancestral wisdom, they are restoring fragile landscapes and protecting families—planting indigenous trees, intercropping with erosion-resistant plants, and reshaping how communities think about resilience and sustainability.
Their efforts echo far beyond the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains. On World Environment Day 2025, global attention turned to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Ana Toni, CEO of the upcoming COP30 UN Climate Conference, addressed international media—with Ugandan journalist Innocent Kiiza among the Belém cohort—with a bold vision: a strategic communication and advocacy initiative rooted in elevating Indigenous and frontline voices, including women restoring degraded ecosystems.
Belém Desk: A Model for African Media and Grassroots Movements
At the heart of Toni’s address was the launch of the Belém Desk, a media platform designed to connect journalists with climate experts, negotiators, and community voices in the lead-up to COP30, which will be hosted in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon. It’s a model African countries like Uganda—and particularly environmental journalists and media advocates—are being urged to emulate.
“The Belém Desk will help elevate voices from Brazil and the Global South, especially Indigenous peoples and traditional communities who have long been at the frontlines of climate change,” Toni said.
Like Brazil’s Amazon, where deforestation, extractive industries, and changing rainfall patterns continue to displace Indigenous communities, Uganda’s mountainous districts such as Kasese face frequent landslides, flash floods, and shifting weather patterns that threaten subsistence agriculture.
Yet the women in these regions—often keepers of traditional ecological knowledge—are rarely consulted or adequately supported in national climate strategies.
With Brazil offering a model of inclusive climate dialogue and media access, Uganda and its regional counterparts have an opportunity to build similar platforms—ensuring that those most affected by climate change also shape the solutions.
The Decade of Acceleration Begins in Belém. Africa Must Keep Pace.
COP30 is not just another climate summit—it signals the start of a pivotal decade for implementing global climate goals. With the Amazon acting as both a carbon sink and a hotspot for biodiversity loss, Brazil’s COP presidency is placing inclusivity, urgency, and implementation at its core.
“We want to bring all topics to the table—global stocktakes, financing, and understanding what’s blocking acceleration. Only then can we negotiate solutions that work for everyone,” Toni said.
This sentiment resonates deeply with Uganda’s ongoing struggle to update and scale its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—particularly in the areas of agroecology and community-based adaptation.
In Kasese, women-led initiatives already offer scalable, low-cost adaptation models worthy of national recognition—from restoring sacred groves to planting erosion-buffering species like Ficus natalensis and Dracaena. What remains missing is institutional support, adequate documentation, and replication across similar ecosystems.
Bridging Blue Zone Diplomacy and Community-Led Adaptation
John Verdieck, Director of International Climate Policy at The Nature Conservancy, emphasized that effective climate diplomacy demands bridging the gap between the “Blue Zone”—the exclusive negotiation halls of global summits—and the lived experiences of communities on the ground.
“There are two parallel worlds,” he said. “One where governments debate targets, and another where communities live with the impacts. The key is building bridges between them.”
In Uganda, that bridge could mean empowering more women like Kyakimwa and Abwoli through technical training, accessible climate finance, and storytelling platforms modeled on the Belém Desk—locally adapted and African-led.
Local broadcasters, civil society, and community radio stations must step up to amplify these voices—connecting them to regional policymakers and international negotiators alike.
Climate Finance, Food Security, and Women’s Role in Adaptation
Rodrigo C. A. Lima, Managing Partner at Agroicone, reminded journalists that the climate crisis is about more than emissions cuts—it’s also about survival, food security, and adaptation.
“It’s not just about reducing emissions. Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall are impacting food production—especially in developing nations. This directly affects SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action),” he noted.
Africa—with its climate-vulnerable yet food-producing regions like Kasese—must push beyond broad declarations at COP30. It must advocate for climate financing that reaches the village level, and most importantly, the women whose unpaid labor keeps ecosystems intact and food on household tables.
Lessons from Brazil: Roadmap for Uganda and Africa
Brazil’s inclusive roadmap to COP30 provides a timely template for African countries. Experts suggest the following strategies:
- Establish Regional Climate Desks – Inspired by the Belém Desk, these platforms would connect Indigenous leaders, women farmers, journalists, and policymakers. Pilot versions are already underway in select African nations.
- Ensure Local Adaptation Informs NDCs – Community-driven practices rooted in Indigenous knowledge and agroecology must be reflected in national climate plans.
- Fund Grassroots Climate Innovations – Governments and donors should prioritize local solutions that blend traditional wisdom with scientific approaches.
- Champion Women’s Leadership – Both in climate storytelling and on-the-ground project implementation, women must be central—not peripheral—actors.
As the world prepares to converge in Belém in November 2025, Uganda and other African nations should not arrive as spectators, but as active contributors—armed with the lived experiences of mountain communities, riverside farmers, and forest guardians who have long known that true climate resilience is local, collective, and ancestral.
