By: Aryampa Brighton
Worth Noting:
- This is a serious matter that should be treated with the utmost seriousness it deserves because we have cities like Kawempe whose poor air quality is more five times higher than the threshold set by the World Health Organization unfortunately.
- As country, we are currently focused on lamenting not fixing the problem and this is infringing the constitutional rights of people clearly stipulated under Article 39 and 22 of the supreme law that guarantees every Ugandan a right to clean and healthy environment and the right to live respectively.
- The question now be should who is causing the pollution and the effectiveness of technical committee on control of pollution established under section 81 NEA, 2019 that is if they do exist anyway.
Section 80 of the National Environment Act, 2019 is very clear on Polluter’s liability that any person who pollutes the environment contrary to the Act or any other applicable law is strictly liable for any damage caused to human health or the environment, regardless of fault. Subsection (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a person who does an act or makes an omission that may aggravate the damage or nuisance caused by earlier pollution is equally and jointly responsible for the pollution.
It is all over news that Air pollution is escalating in the administrative center of Kampala and the nearby outskirts. The director in charge of Environment at Kampala City Centre (KCCA) Mr. Daniel Okello speaking during the launch of the air quality awareness week at the Uganda Media House on 3rd May, 2022 noted that we lost 23,000 people in 2019 due to HIV in Uganda and in the same period, 26,000 people died as a result of cardiovascular diseases linked to air pollution. This literally means that air pollution has gone ahead of HIV in taking away the lives of Ugandans.
This is a serious matter that should be treated with the utmost seriousness it deserves because we have cities like Kawempe whose poor air quality is more five times higher than the threshold set by the World Health Organization unfortunately. As country, we are currently focused on lamenting not fixing the problem and this is infringing the constitutional rights of people clearly stipulated under Article 39 and 22 of the supreme law that guarantees every Ugandan a right to clean and healthy environment and the right to live respectively. The question now be should who is causing the pollution and the effectiveness of technical committee on control of pollution established under section 81 NEA, 2019 that is if they do exist anyway. If we are going to solve the challenges we face as a country, we must not run away from policy and the good laws we have as a country. The cause of pollution has been alluded to burning of waste, cooking with biofuels, vehicular emissions from old vehicles and others. Which people are driving old vehicles, who else is polluting our environment? We must make them pay in accordance with the law to set an example to others. The traffic department can enforce that to curb vehicular emissions. Reduce electric tariffs, fees and sensitize Ugandans to use the abundance electricity we have and transition from bio fuels for cooking. The government should with urgency ensure that Uganda imports cars with catalytic converters. Most importantly we must plant more trees in the city area instead of fancy animations and roses and make sure we protect the green areas from pedestrian trespassing. Tree adoption and polluter pays policy is key to curbing the over rising air pollution in Kampala and other cities to ensure the right to life and a clean and healthy environment to all Ugandans.
Air pollution will remain a problem in the future if we do not take action now because it continues to cause cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses, reduce the economic value of crops and leads to expensive cleaning of cultural heritage, reduce plant biodiversity and affect other ecosystem services, such as clean water, recreational activities and carbon storage and worse still contribute to climate change, hence air pollution.
I urge the government and all stakeholders to aims to mobilize cities and individuals to protect our health and our planet from the effects of air pollution and the actions should be local and focused on improving transport, waste management, indoor air quality, energy supply, industry, food and agriculture and most importantly adopt tree planting, reduce harmful emissions and promote the use of renewable energies. The government should also come up with a carbon tax. A carbon tax is to provide an economic incentive to companies and individuals to emit less carbon dioxide by charging consumers at the point of purchase, its function is not limited to fighting against climate change. As air pollution and greenhouse gases are mostly generated from the same human activities like burning of fossil fuels, wastes and emission from vehicles. Implementing a carbon tax can hit two birds with one stone. Ugandans should know that Living in a pollution-free environment signifies a better quality of life thus its also everyone’s responsibility.
Aryampa Brighton.
aryampa.brighton@gmail.com / baryampa@ygcug.org
The writer is a lawyer and Chief Executive Officer, Youth for Green Communities (YGC).
