All too often people try to characterize stories of climate change as strictly environmental matters. You hear that the departments for water and environment in a number of countries, including Uganda are responsible for designing and implementing national response strategies to combat climate change.r

In Uganda for example the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) which is the government's blue print for responding to climate change, was the responsibility of the ministry of Water and Environment. Despite its completion and publication two years ago, its recommendations are yet to be reflected in the actual planning and resource allocation process of the budget and other programmes of government.

Some aspects of NAPA's implementation particularly tree planting a programme that kicked off a few weeks ago by the same ministry goes to show the periphery nature of climate change planning.

And yet the memories of the massive destruction caused by the 2007 floods in northern and north eastern Uganda and more recently the widespread famine that swept across the country are all too fresh in the minds of most Ugandans.

To use the metaphor of four blind men who were told to describe an elephant, their sense of touch yielded different results depending on what part of the animal they touched. The far reaching implications of climate change mean that transport and energy networks, health, agriculture, security, tourism, culture, water resources, education and nearly all aspects of life are at a risk.

But the sheer dependency on natural factors for food, firewood, water, energy by the vast majority of Ugandans reflects the very essence and extent of vulnerability that countries like Uganda have to contend with.

The 2007 flush floods that washed away bridges, destroyed hectares of crops, houses, schools, and left hundreds of people sick from water born diseases in northern and north eastern Uganda may be the first hard signs of climate change. But they also appear to be the first harsh reminder of the need for coordinated action by all sectors of government, community, and donor agencies.

On the other hand, as temperatures rise because of global warming, ecosystems are transforming at unprecedented speed. In mountain regions such as Rwenzori for example, previously cooler regions are warming up and in the process transforming tropical forests favored by a wide variety of life forms including Gorillas and other wild animals that earn Uganda millions of dollars from tourism, virtually inhabitable.

The effect of higher temperatures, changing seasons and the resultant difficulties in planning are already causing sufficient headache among farmers in this country.

But if they read that coffee farming is expected to become impossible in a period of 30-40 years as global temperatures rise to 2 degrees compared to their pre-industrial levels, as the UN environmental programme predicts, many coffee farmers may choose to find other means of survival, and perhaps going to cities to sell their labour may be the best alternative.

Coffee, which is Uganda's major commodity export and the leading foreign exchange earner is said to be a fragile crop. This strategically important crop, upon which some five million people depend directly or indirectly, thrives in mildly warm, wet climate. Rising temperatures as is being experienced in most parts of coffee growing areas is causing heat stress that not suitable for coffee to flourish.

One could argue that climate change has no gender. However, its effects touch men and women differently. Because women account for 70% of agricultural labour in Uganda, disruptions in food productions that are already being brought to bear because of climate change, means that women have to shoulder an even greater burden of feeding families as yields diminish and crop pests become rampant.

That climate change means man's survival hangs on its understanding and appropriate response, calls for rigorous planning by all ministries more so by the finance and planning ministry which allocates resources.

The lip service and uncoordinated planning given to this critical matter as has been argued by experts in a recent report titled Climate Change In Uganda: Understanding The Implications And Appraising The Response, means that the country is likely to have insufficient and perhaps inappropriate responses.

Mr. Lutaaya is a Climate Change Media Partnership 2009 fellow
Mr. Lutaaya also a regular contributor to the Uganda Climate Change Forum at http://ugandaclimatechangeforum.wordpress.com/