“Ms. Akumu argues that, while pastoralists who live in arid regions will suffer, it is the Western countries who are to blame, especially the United States, which refuses to sign on to global protocols to reduce greenhouse gases. "Pastoralists are the losers - they are not responsible, but they feel the impact of climate change the most. The blame lies squarely at the doorstep of America."
Figures from the World Resources Institute in 2000 calculated that Africa's 812 million people produce only 0.8 metric tons of greenhouse emissions per person compared with 3.9 metric tons per person globally. Yet it is the African environment that sees the worst effects, and marginal communities, such as the pastoralists, who will suffer most.
Pastoralism does not fit well with modern nations of the kind Uganda aspires to be, and pastoralists have been marginalized by successive regimes from the days of British colonialism onward. The Karimojong live in an arid zone where settled agriculture does not work. They ignore borders as they move seasonally between pastures with their cows and use their guns to protect their herds and to launch cattle-rustling raids against neighboring groups.
They have little respect for state authority, and the government has little interaction with the Karimojong except during attempts to disarm the warriors. The Karamoja region has Uganda's lowest life expectancy, its highest infant and maternal mortality rates, no paved roads, and no industry - the Karimojong do not share in Uganda's economic progress. The country has a 4 percent growth rate.
Violent cattle raids are a traditional method of restocking herds among pastoral groups. However, the death count has spiraled since sticks and spears were replaced by AK-47s as the weapon of choice beginning in the late 1970s.
A well-established small-arms trade has sprung out of the regional insecurity, with guns flowing in from neighboring Sudan and Somalia. All this means Karamoja is well stocked with weapons and prices are falling: in the 1970s, a gun cost 60-150 cows, by 2004 it had fallen as low as two cows (roughly $100).”
- Climate change clash in Africa
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