The proposed climate change bill to be tabled before parliament early next month, March 2018.
Addressing journalists at Uganda Media Centre, the Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change (PFCC) chairperson Lawrence Songa said that everything about the bill has been drafted and soon it will be presented before cabinet for approval and then parliament.
The law according to Songa, seeks to protect the ecosystems threatened by population pressures and erosion that affect all those who depend on natural space.
Songa stressed that the legal framework will help the country to mainstream climate change in the country’s development processes.
He said the proposed law will regulate the infrastructural development and human activities to ensure sustainable use of natural resources.
According to the proposed bill, polluters of the environment will be liable to compensate people who suffer loss or damage as a result of their acts and omissions.
The proposed law empowers the High Court to issue orders to prevent, stop or discontinue the act or omission that is subject to the case and also to compel government to take measures to reverse the act that was omitted.
Ms Cotilda Nakyeyune, the senior programme officer at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, suggested that the ideas generated during consultation be included in the Bill before it is finalised.
“We want to see the Bill shaped to acceptable status. We need support to position climate change sector in order to attract funding and one way to advocate for this is by way of having a law in place,” she added.
Earlier on Members of Parliament said the proposed law is silent on climate change fund, how to manage it, offences as well as enforcement of punishments against culprits of environment degradation. “We are talking about resilient infrastructure because it will be useless for development facilities to be destroyed before they serve,” said MP Biyika Songa.
