Environmental protection in Uganda

Having lived here only a couple of years I can only offer my observations - not necessarily facts. My impression is that in some ways Uganda is much more attuned to some environmental issues than my home country the USA. Politicians don't seem to debate the science of climate change and make it a political issue as is done in the US. It is accepted as fact. Perhaps this is because Ugandans have already been feeling its effects. Before I moved here it seems that I read somewhere that Uganda has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any country. Now that I live here I assume that it has to do with a number of factors including the fact that the electric grid is supplied by hydro power. The demands also seems to be less here since the poverty rate is high and most places don't have heating or air conditioning which typically accounts for a large part of electric loads.

I was impressed to see the president introduce the first solar powered bus in Uganda a few weeks ago and share his vision that eventually every petrol staion should have charging stations for electric vehicles.

One area that is less than impressive to me in Uganda is the attitude about littering and the lack of large scale recycling. But I do remember a time in the US when it was not uncommon (or illegal) to throw litter out of a car window and recycling did not really exist. So perhaps with time Uganda will follow suit.