Africa Knowledge Management Portal
Informing health decisions and actions
Climate Change Profile Uganda
Health Risk Environment
Description
A landlocked country, Uganda��s regions - the mountain regions, lowlands, and the cattle corridor - differ in their vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Agriculture is the main economic sector, accounting for 25% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing 70% of the labour force. Uganda faces several developmental constraints, including high population growth (3.3%), post-conflict conditions in the north, soil erosion and degradation, and pernicious impacts of malaria and HIV/AIDS. Increasing variability in rainfall and temperature will present an additional stress on development in the country, especially with its high dependency on rain-fed agriculture. Rising temperatures and shifting or increasingly unpredictable rainfall patterns can reduce the extent of agricultural land, shorten growing seasons, hamper crop production, undermine the (ground) water resources and alter the occurrence and distribution of pests.