Community experiences of the impacts of climate-induced extreme weather events in Uganda: A qualitative study

Climate change is impacting health, social systems and livelihoods of populations across the world with sub-Saharan Africa being particularly hard-hit. Lived experiences of the impacts of climate change are paramount to understanding how at-risk communities are uniquely impacted and collectively devise response mechanisms. However, there is limited evidence of the community’s lived experiences of these impacts. This study explored the community experiences of the impacts of climate change-induced extreme weather events in Bududa, Kasese, and Moroto districts in Uganda to inform context specific climate mitigation and adaptation interventions. This qualitative study was conducted among purposively selected community members in areas that frequently experienced extreme weather events, notably drought, floods, and/or landslides. The study involved 14 focus group discussions, separate by sex and age. The recorded interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and inductively analyzed according to themes. The analysis revealed seven themes related to the community impacts of climate change and corresponding coping measures. These were: injuries and deaths, infectious disease spread, disrupted livelihoods, food insecurity, poor mental health, difficulties accessing health, and disruption of education services. Communities took various measures to adapt to extreme weather events including environmental conservation and protection, modifying farming practices, diversifying their livelihoods, seasonal migration, seeking health care from alternative sources, and organizing themselves into financial support groups. Floods, landslides, and drought negatively affected the communities with wide-ranging impacts across health and social domains with which they struggled to cope. There were gaps in capacity, equity, system performance, and overall community resilience. As extreme weather events become more frequent, there is a need to strengthen community mitigation and adaptive capacity to enhance systems resilience. Communities should be at the centre of any such efforts.