Background: Globally, the incidence of disasters is rising. Uganda is one of several countries experiencing an upturn in adverse climate events. Although Uganda’s government has implemented several strategies to mitigate land-use and population pressure-related climate adversity in high-risk zones, communities have not responded to them sufficiently, implying a resilience gap. The objective of this study was to describe the concerns and misconceptions impeding community uptake of climate risk mitigation policies in a rural area in Eastern Uganda. Methods: The study was conducted in Butalejja and Bududa districts in the Mt. Elgon region of Eastern Uganda that is prone to recurrent land-slides and floods. The design was a qualitative study, consisting of 15 small group discussions per district, nested within a Deliberative Poll®. Key government of Uganda policy options on sustainable settlement and family planning were presented to participants who then discussed them with the guidance of a moderator. Results: Not only were participants distrustful of how the land from which they are evacuated would be managed, but they also resented being resettled in unfamiliar places with substantially different topography, low soil fertility, and at a great distance from their ancestral sites and social networks. A latent theme from the data was the pervasive expectation by communities to be assisted by government in all areas of their livelihood needs. Key barriers to Family Planning included lack of safety guarantees, helplessness in the event of a side effect, failure by communities to link family size to resource constraints, and feelings of entitlement to assistance among people with large families. The misconceptions were fueled by a large information asymmetry between the community members and the policy makers. Conclusion: Lasting solutions to climate risk in rural communities will require continuous information-driven dialogue between community members and implementers to address major misconceptions and information asymmetries regarding risk mitigation policies.
| Published in | Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 9, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11 |
| Page(s) | 109-120 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Policy, Deliberative Polling, Climate Risk-Mitigation, Disaster, Land Use, Family Planning
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APA Style
Roy William Mayega, Nathan Tumuhamye, Grace Mongo Bua, Julius Ssentongo, Harriet Adong, et al. (2021). “Our Land Is Shrinking”: Concerns and Misconceptions Impeding Uptake of Climate Risk Mitigation Policies in Bududa and Butalejja Districts in Eastern Uganda. Science Journal of Public Health, 9(4), 109-120. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11
ACS Style
Roy William Mayega; Nathan Tumuhamye; Grace Mongo Bua; Julius Ssentongo; Harriet Adong, et al. “Our Land Is Shrinking”: Concerns and Misconceptions Impeding Uptake of Climate Risk Mitigation Policies in Bududa and Butalejja Districts in Eastern Uganda. Sci. J. Public Health 2021, 9(4), 109-120. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11
AMA Style
Roy William Mayega, Nathan Tumuhamye, Grace Mongo Bua, Julius Ssentongo, Harriet Adong, et al. “Our Land Is Shrinking”: Concerns and Misconceptions Impeding Uptake of Climate Risk Mitigation Policies in Bududa and Butalejja Districts in Eastern Uganda. Sci J Public Health. 2021;9(4):109-120. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11,
author = {Roy William Mayega and Nathan Tumuhamye and Grace Mongo Bua and Julius Ssentongo and Harriet Adong and Kathleen Giles and Stella Neema and Christine Muhumuza and William Bazeyo and James Fishkin and Lynn Atuyambe},
title = {“Our Land Is Shrinking”: Concerns and Misconceptions Impeding Uptake of Climate Risk Mitigation Policies in Bududa and Butalejja Districts in Eastern Uganda},
journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
volume = {9},
number = {4},
pages = {109-120},
doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20210904.11},
abstract = {Background: Globally, the incidence of disasters is rising. Uganda is one of several countries experiencing an upturn in adverse climate events. Although Uganda’s government has implemented several strategies to mitigate land-use and population pressure-related climate adversity in high-risk zones, communities have not responded to them sufficiently, implying a resilience gap. The objective of this study was to describe the concerns and misconceptions impeding community uptake of climate risk mitigation policies in a rural area in Eastern Uganda. Methods: The study was conducted in Butalejja and Bududa districts in the Mt. Elgon region of Eastern Uganda that is prone to recurrent land-slides and floods. The design was a qualitative study, consisting of 15 small group discussions per district, nested within a Deliberative Poll®. Key government of Uganda policy options on sustainable settlement and family planning were presented to participants who then discussed them with the guidance of a moderator. Results: Not only were participants distrustful of how the land from which they are evacuated would be managed, but they also resented being resettled in unfamiliar places with substantially different topography, low soil fertility, and at a great distance from their ancestral sites and social networks. A latent theme from the data was the pervasive expectation by communities to be assisted by government in all areas of their livelihood needs. Key barriers to Family Planning included lack of safety guarantees, helplessness in the event of a side effect, failure by communities to link family size to resource constraints, and feelings of entitlement to assistance among people with large families. The misconceptions were fueled by a large information asymmetry between the community members and the policy makers. Conclusion: Lasting solutions to climate risk in rural communities will require continuous information-driven dialogue between community members and implementers to address major misconceptions and information asymmetries regarding risk mitigation policies.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - “Our Land Is Shrinking”: Concerns and Misconceptions Impeding Uptake of Climate Risk Mitigation Policies in Bududa and Butalejja Districts in Eastern Uganda AU - Roy William Mayega AU - Nathan Tumuhamye AU - Grace Mongo Bua AU - Julius Ssentongo AU - Harriet Adong AU - Kathleen Giles AU - Stella Neema AU - Christine Muhumuza AU - William Bazeyo AU - James Fishkin AU - Lynn Atuyambe Y1 - 2021/06/09 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11 DO - 10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11 T2 - Science Journal of Public Health JF - Science Journal of Public Health JO - Science Journal of Public Health SP - 109 EP - 120 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-7950 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20210904.11 AB - Background: Globally, the incidence of disasters is rising. Uganda is one of several countries experiencing an upturn in adverse climate events. Although Uganda’s government has implemented several strategies to mitigate land-use and population pressure-related climate adversity in high-risk zones, communities have not responded to them sufficiently, implying a resilience gap. The objective of this study was to describe the concerns and misconceptions impeding community uptake of climate risk mitigation policies in a rural area in Eastern Uganda. Methods: The study was conducted in Butalejja and Bududa districts in the Mt. Elgon region of Eastern Uganda that is prone to recurrent land-slides and floods. The design was a qualitative study, consisting of 15 small group discussions per district, nested within a Deliberative Poll®. Key government of Uganda policy options on sustainable settlement and family planning were presented to participants who then discussed them with the guidance of a moderator. Results: Not only were participants distrustful of how the land from which they are evacuated would be managed, but they also resented being resettled in unfamiliar places with substantially different topography, low soil fertility, and at a great distance from their ancestral sites and social networks. A latent theme from the data was the pervasive expectation by communities to be assisted by government in all areas of their livelihood needs. Key barriers to Family Planning included lack of safety guarantees, helplessness in the event of a side effect, failure by communities to link family size to resource constraints, and feelings of entitlement to assistance among people with large families. The misconceptions were fueled by a large information asymmetry between the community members and the policy makers. Conclusion: Lasting solutions to climate risk in rural communities will require continuous information-driven dialogue between community members and implementers to address major misconceptions and information asymmetries regarding risk mitigation policies. VL - 9 IS - 4 ER -
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