Allan Bomuhangi | Makerere University (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Allan Bomuhangi

Climate change management, 2019

Agriculture, the main livelihood activity for several communities in Uganda, is threatened by sho... more Agriculture, the main livelihood activity for several communities in Uganda, is threatened by short- and long-term changes in temperatures and precipitation. The increasing involvement of women in agriculture has attracted a myriad of gender-climate studies. However, much of the focus has concentrated on the usual gender dichotomy that assumes homogeneity within gender identities. This study is based on the premise that while an evaluation of male- and female-headed households is important, it only forms an initial stride in understanding climate change impacts’ and adaptation analyses. Using focus group discussions and household surveys, this study unveils the climate change adaptation dynamics created by the different positions that men and women hold across defined household typologies in the Mt. Elgon region. The results indicate that male divorced/separated/widowed households are more impacted by crop failure than female divorced/separated/widowed households. Across the households, adult male and female vulnerability was attributed mainly to a limited asset ownership portfolio. Due to ownership of more diverse assets, coupled households had more flexibility to engage in a number of adaptive/coping strategies compared to any other household type. Women in coupled households were also more likely to adapt to crop failure compared to women in other household types, given that they have some access to and use rights of their spouse’s assets. Given these dynamics, it is concluded that issues of gender and climate change are multifaceted and that meaningful design and implementation of adaptation strategies should not view “male,” “female,” and “household” as homogeneous categories but rather recognize their variation in adaptation process.

AdaptEA: Adaptation of people to climate change in East Africa: Ecosystem services, risk reduction and human well-being (Uganda IFRI and PEN data), 2015

We express our sincere thanks to the Ministry of Gender and Ministry of Community Development and... more We express our sincere thanks to the Ministry of Gender and Ministry of Community Development and Social Services for their leadership in the areas of gender and empowerment programming and guidance on the development and execution of this research. The research was financed through the generous support of the Nordic Trust Fund.

The team would like to thank the village and district stakeholders from Bududa and Kapchorwa Dist... more The team would like to thank the village and district stakeholders from Bududa and Kapchorwa Districts and national stakeholders who have shared their knowledge, time and good will with us in the course of this research. The authors would also like to thank two reviewers (Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki and Grace Wong) for their comments on a prior draft of this paper. Many other individuals at CIFOR and Makerere have contributed in making this research possible, including the administrative and research staff of the School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences at Makerere University, CIFOR Library (searching/ sourcing literature), CIFOR ICG team (editing and layout of the working paper), and a range of staff in the Governance, Livelihoods, Finance, Administration, Human Resources, and the Nairobi Hub Offices. Clearly, climate change adaptation and mitigation requires a landscape approach that encompasses and integrates interventions from forestry, agriculture, wildlife, and many other sectors, rather than allowing them to persist in their separate silos. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) CIFOR advances human well-being, environmental conservation and equity by conducting research to help shape policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries. CIFOR is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our headquarters are in Bogor, Indonesia, with offices in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Cogent Environmental Science, 2016

This study examined how natural resources policies and action plans in Uganda may shape gendered ... more This study examined how natural resources policies and action plans in Uganda may shape gendered climate change adaptation. It demonstrated that although majority of the reviewed natural resources policies and action plans fail to identify climate change as a policy issue, they propose strategies relevant to climate change adaptation. It also revealed that while gender is largely considered as an issue that is relevant to climate change adaptation, seldom do the policy documents mainstream gender within the proposed policy interventions identified to achieve the aspirations of the policies. Proposed climate change interventions seldom link to particular gender tenets and hence undermine gendered adaptation. Most of the policy interventions were found to adopt a gender-neutral approach, ignoring the differential characteristics of women and men. The study concluded that with this narrow approach to gender vulnerability, targeted climate change interventions that take into considerati...

Adaptive Collaborative Management in Forest Landscapes

Working Paper 225 Trends in forest conditions and implications for resilience to climate change u... more Working Paper 225 Trends in forest conditions and implications for resilience to climate change under differing forest governance regimes

Strengthening women's tenure rights and participation in community forestry cifor.org blog.cifor.... more Strengthening women's tenure rights and participation in community forestry cifor.org blog.cifor.org Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) CIFOR advances human well-being, environmental conservation and equity by conducting research to help shape policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries. CIFOR is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our headquarters are in Bogor, Indonesia, with offices in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This research was carried out by CIFOR as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA). This collaborative program aims to enhance the management and use of forests, agroforestry and tree genetic resources across the landscape from forests to farms. CIFOR leads CRP-FTA in partnership with Bioversity International, CATIE, CIRAD, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the World Agroforestry Centre.

This study investigates intra household level decision-making in two rural districts in the Mt El... more This study investigates intra household level decision-making in two rural districts in the Mt Elgon region. Data was collected from 442 respondents using a household survey. Pearson Chi-Square (χ2), Multinomial and logistic regressions were used to understand the gender dimensions of decision making and barriers to climate change adaptation. The study demonstrates that coping and adaptation decisions within households are undertaken either as sole or joint decisions. Sole decisions are made either by the husband or by the wife while joint decisions are made by the husband and wife together or with other household members. However, most coping and adaptation decisions were often made either by the husband or by both the husband and wife. Seldom were decisions made individually by the wife or jointly with other household members. The study concludes that men or women may make decisions on certain coping and adaptation practices and not others implying that the kinds of coping and or ...

In order to develop climate adaptation strategies that address location and context-specific vuln... more In order to develop climate adaptation strategies that address location and context-specific vulnerabilities, there is need to understand how communities perceive the variability in their climate as perception of climate variability is a critical component within which climate adaptation should operate. This paper examines communities' perceptions about climate variability in relation to available meteorological data in the Mt. Elgon region. The study demonstrates that community perceptions of temperature and precipitation trends as indicators of climate variability are in agreement with meteorologically observed trends. It also reveals that local communities' perceptions of climate variability may also provide more localized contexts of climate variability which be insufficiently captured by meteorological data in communities where capture of meteorological data is not fully developed.

Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, part... more Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Patterns of gradual, endogenous change toward formalization are being challenged by rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. Based on a study of land tenure in Uganda, this paper analyzes how different ways of defining landownership-based on household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land-provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of landownership and rights. Although many households report that husbands and wives jointly own the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, especially titles, and women have fewer land rights. A simplistic focus on title to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could especially have an adverse impact on women's land rights.

Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, part... more Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, particularly in Subsaharan Africa where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Patterns of gradual, endogenous change towards formalization are being challenged by rapid and large scale of demands from outsiders. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. Based on a study of land tenure in Uganda, this paper analyzes how different definitions of land ownership, including household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land, provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of land ownership and rights. While many households report husbands and wives jointly own the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, and have fewer rights. A simplistic focus on "title" to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure, and could especially have an adverse impact on women's land rights.

Climate change management, 2019

AdaptEA: Adaptation of people to climate change in East Africa: Ecosystem services, risk reduction and human well-being (Uganda IFRI and PEN data), 2015

Cogent Environmental Science, 2016

Adaptive Collaborative Management in Forest Landscapes

Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, part... more Rapid growth of demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property rights systems, particularly in Subsaharan Africa where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Patterns of gradual, endogenous change towards formalization are being challenged by rapid and large scale of demands from outsiders. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. Based on a study of land tenure in Uganda, this paper analyzes how different definitions of land ownership, including household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land, provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of land ownership and rights. While many households report husbands and wives jointly own the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, and have fewer rights. A simplistic focus on "title" to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure, and could especially have an adverse impact on women's land rights.