Inherited Destruction: How Youth Unemployment in Kasese is fueling an Environmental Crisis amid Government Inaction

#IvanKaahwaReports

It is no longer a secret that the youth make up the majority in Uganda. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2024 census report revealed that children aged 0-17 years constitute 50.5% of the population, while youths aged 18-30 years make up 22.7%. The working-age population (14-64 years) stands at 55.6%, indicating that 73.2% of the population is either in their youthful years or transitioning to youthfulness. Older persons aged 60 and above account for only 5.0%.

In all aspects of survival and preservation, the youth interact more with the basic needs and demands of society, making it essential for them to adhere to sustainable practices. Global warming is a significant threat, and while in the Ugandan context it influences weather patterns, there are also local human activities that exacerbate the problem. The youth, who primarily engage in mining activities, cutting trees for timber, or in rural areas for firewood or charcoal, interact the most with the environment. Unfortunately, apart from exploiting these natural resources for survival, there have been few efforts to provide alternatives to ensure the youth protect the environment.

For instance, what alternatives are available for cooking, construction, or reducing resource extraction? Perhaps electricity, gas, or controlled mining for sustainable use, but are these options affordable enough for youths to abandon conventional survival methods?

The current youths indeed have a role in fixing what previous generations have damaged, including reforestation. Reflecting on my own experiences, I recall contributing to environmental destruction by fetching firewood daily at an age when I was unaware of environmental degradation. Now, as a youth, I feel the urgency to act, but it seems almost too late. In my village in Masindi District, people still rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking, and in my local council, Kisingo 1, there is no electricity. The reality is that the children who grew up exploiting nature are now doing so for survival, but during their childhood, they did it as an expectation—a boy had to fetch water, and a girl had to fetch firewood.

The issue of climate change is deeply rooted in societal perceptions. To break this narrative, any sitting government must be firmly committed and proactive. During a recent visit to Kasese District in western Uganda, home to the Rwenzori Mountains and Uganda’s highest point, Margarita Peak, I sought to understand the role of youth in this environmental crisis.

For many youths in Kasese, education has been disrupted by frequent floods that have washed away schools, homes, and essential educational materials. Growing up amid these challenges, many youths have been forced to divert their attention away from education due to factors such as lack of interest, orphan-hood, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, peer pressure, limited parental guidance, and a scarcity of jobs that require a certain level of education.

The introduction of Industrial Hubs in Kasese, which provide hands-on skills and capital for youths to start their own businesses, has been a positive development. However, when it comes to environmental issues, the situation remains dire.

After failing to find employment, the youths in Kasese turned to extracting stones and sand from the rivers in the district for the construction sector—an activity considered illegal by authorities. Unfortunately, there has been insufficient information to educate these youths about the environmental impact or to offer them viable alternatives.

The youths argue that this activity is similar to desilting sand from the river to ensure its smooth flow and that if they didn’t extract the sand, it would pile up and cause water diversion towards populated areas. However, experts argue that if used unsustainably, this could destabilize the river’s behavior and exacerbate flooding.

In addition to the unregulated small-scale activities where these youths use locally made spades, large-scale mining operations are taking place in these rivers under the watchful eyes of local leaders. Unregulated large-scale mining activities are taking place in these rivers under the watchful eyes of leaders, where excavators are used to extract raw materials, which are then transported in trucks—a lucrative business taking place in Kasese District at the expense of the environment and the local population.

The government’s silence on such illegal activities suggests a tacit contribution to environmental degradation. Although the Natural Resources Department is working on a policy for monitoring and sustainable use of natural resources, including generating revenue from it, uncontrolled activities continue unabated.

There is also clear extraction of marrum from the hills, an activity primarily carried out by the youth who claim they work for landowners in the area. This practice appears to be another catalyst for landslides in Kasese District.

During my time in Kasese, I didn’t sense any significant presence of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), nor did my interactions with local leaders indicate otherwise. However, for the sake of thoroughness, I plan to seek out NEMA for a situation report on these uncontrolled activities.

The Uganda Police Force decried the limited manpower to handle this reality in Kasese. They lack a well-strategized Environmental Police Unit, relying instead on a Mineral Protection Unit based in Fort Portal, about 70 km from Kasese, making any monitoring costly.

The youths extracting sand from River Nyamwamba, one of the most disaster-prone areas, mentioned they have a SACCO (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization) that could support them. However, many complained that the requirements to benefit from government programs such as PDM (Parish Development Model), YLP (Youth Livelihood Program), and Emyooga are cumbersome. Some lost their documents, including national IDs, during floods, and the hurdles in renewing these IDs add to their frustration—a sentiment shared by the youths regardless of their background.

This frustration suggests that youths may lose interest in doing what is right. Although raising 50,000 UGX for an ID may seem like a small fee, it is a significant amount for those surviving on one meal a day.

The government, therefore, should find a way to invest in data collection systems so that any citizen only needs to present a NIN (National Identification Number) and not a hard copy of an ID to access essential services. NSSF Numbers and TINS don’t require a hardcopy document as proof; these are individual numbers. (Read my article titled *”NIN Doesn’t Have an Expiry Date, but Apparently, ID Cards Need a Regular Spa Day; Unpacking the Absurdity” Link:  “https://thenewlightpaper.co.ug/2024/01/24/nin-doesnt-have-an-expiry-date-but-apparently-id-cards-need-a-regular-spa-day-unpacking-the-absurdity/“

In Mbale District, another flood-prone area, the youth are engaged in nursery bed businesses along riverbanks, using the available water to sell plants. However, it’s not the youth who are responsible for constructing in wetlands and along riverbanks.

The tragic irony is that when these issues are brought to the attention of leaders, it is not their fellow youth who frustrate them.

Tackling environmental degradation requires promoting conservation and preservation, reducing the cost of power, investing in innovations that promote the use of biomass, and providing viable alternatives to people in hard-to-reach areas where nature is their only source of livelihood.

In conclusion, while the youth are essential in the fight against climate change, they are still grappling with the harsh realities of life.

Ivan Kaahwa is an investigative journalist in Uganda and a writer for CenteMedia Group. 

kaahwaivan@gmail.com