“Rain has become my enemy.
When it rains, my heart sinks,” says Jane, an entrepreneur who runs a village
grocery shop in the Isingiro District of Western Uganda. Many forests in the
area have been turned into farms, which fail to retain water during heavy
downpours. The resulting floods damage homes, crops and businesses, including
Jane’s. They also lead to nutrient runoff from soil, which contribute to water
pollution. According to the village head, water from wetlands is no longer
clean for human or livestock consumption.
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| Water is life: With water in the downstream ecosystems such as wetlands polluted, this upstream water source that flows all year round is becoming more and more precious. With the wide utilization of chemical fertilizer, however, upstream water source also runs the risk of deteriorating quality. Photo by Victor Tsang/ UN Envrionment |
As my week-long field trip in April 2018
concluded, it is more apparent than ever that land degradation is taking a toll
on the East African nation. Subsequent to the growing demand for food and fuel,
forests have been turned into farmlands, trees cut down for household firewood
consumption and the growing industry of charcoal production, and wetlands
encroached upon for construction or other purposes. At the backdrop is climate
change, which leads to more unpredictability of weather patterns – prolonging the
country’s dry seasons and bringing more intense downpours during the rainy
seasons. The results are impacting livelihoods, leading to increased poverty
and food insecurity, interruption of school attendance, deteriorated health
including among those living with HIV/AIDS, as well as increased time on unpaid
care work for women such as fetching water and firewood.
In another community, in the
Kamwenge District of Western Uganda, I sat down with 26 women – ranging from
teenagers to the elderly – to discuss the impacts of flood, drought and intense
heat on their lives. When posed a question on domestic violence, the women
burst into laughter, as if a sense of levity could alleviate their sufferings.
They said that domestic violence is common in Uganda, and that it happens more
often during the dry seasons, when men want to sell the crops that the women
grow. In most cases, the men beat their wives when they want to gain control of
their wives’ crops. In some cases, however, women also beat their husbands.
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| Win-win: Community members can earn an income by removing and selling the foreign species of eucalyptus while conserving wetland ecosystem. Photo by Victor Tsang/ UN Envrionment |
The intricate linkages among the
Sustainable
Development Goals are at the heart of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, which calls
for an integrated approach and breaking the silos. In the case of Uganda, land
degradation (Goal 15) and climate change (13) are bringing negative impacts on
poverty (1), food security (2), health (3), education (4), gender relations
(5), and availability of clean water (6) and firewood (7). The story does not
end here. In the context of environmental changes, villagers, especially men,
go to cities (11) for jobs and income (8). After all, why are trees cut down
and natural resources degraded? It is primarily driven by human consumption
(12), especially those in cities.
This summer in New York City,
United States, policy makers are going to gather at the High-level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development to conduct an in-depth
review of some of these Sustainable Development Goals, including Goals 6 (clean
water and sanitation), 7 (affordable and clean energy), 11 (sustainable cities
and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 15 (life on
land). In preparation for this, UN Environment, UN-Habitat and UN Women joined hands and
organized an expert group meeting for gender from 5-6 June in Nairobi, Kenya.
In the green and pretty United Nations office complex, where one can see
monkeys running around, experts across sectors traveled from around the world
to discuss how to strengthen gender equality considerations for the five goals
to be reviewed. A list of recommendations has been submitted to the Forum
participants.
In the two-day meeting,
participants discussed the problems and solutions in advancing gender equality
under the five goals. They also attempted to break the silos and create
synergies among the goals. One suggestion I proposed was to identify Sustainable
Development Goal catalysts -interventions that will advance gender equality and
achieve multiple benefits for the five goals. One such catalyst could be to
invest in public toilets in urban spaces; it will contribute to Goals 5, 6 and
11 concurrently. However, given the time limit, participants were not able to
discuss this idea to much depth.
Figure 1: A diagram on the idea of SDG
catalysts. One such catalyst could be to invest in public toilets in urban
spaces.
The need to create synergies
within the same sustainable development goal to bridge the social-environment
nexus was highlighted. For instance, under goal 6 (clean water and sanitation),
there is a tendency that experts with a background in water, sanitation and
hygiene to focus on issues with water pumps and toilets, while professionals
from an environment background may emphasize issues with water ecosystems.
Under Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities), most experts tend to look
at urban planning and equitable access to urban resources, while environment
professionals tend to focus on issues with air pollution and solid waste. To
bridge such knowledge gap, it is necessary to create opportunities for social
and environmental scientists to dialogue.
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| Indivisibility of SDGs: The 26 women in the focus group discussion seem to understand perfectly the indivisibility of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of the 2030 Agenda, a message for policy makers. Photo by Victor Tsang/ UN Envrionment |
