Area:

241 038 km2

Population:

33 Million

Climate:

Uganda experiences moderate climatic conditions throughout the year and its location across the equator gives it two rain seasons in a year although these two seasons merge into one long rain season as you move away from the equator. The first rain season is from March to June, while the second one is from August to October. The mean annual rainfall varies from 750 to 2000 mm. Uganda experiences a variety of temperature regimes. Mean daily temperature is 280C. However, temperatures below 00C are experienced on the higher mountain ranges of Rwenzori and Elgon. Mt. Rwenzori has a permanent ice cap, which is vulnerable to global warming.

Natural Resources:

Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy. It constitutes about 42% of GDP, over 90% of export earnings and employs about 81% of the labour force. Forestry contributes about 6% and Industrial sector's contribution to GDP is about 8 per cent. Service sector is the other large contributor to GDP. Other natural resources include; copper, cobalt, limestone, salt, phosphate, oil.

Agriculture:

Agricultural production includes cash crops-coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, cut flowers and food crops-bananas, corn, cassava, potatoes, millet, pulses. Livestock and fisheries are also practiced. This mainly involves beef, goat meat, milk, poultry, Nile perch, and tilapia.

Climate Vulnerabilities:

In the last few decades, Uganda has seen an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events with serious socio-economic consequences. The major impacts of adverse effects of climate change for Uganda include; Food insecurity arising from occurrences of droughts and floods, outbreak of diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, water borne diseases (such as cholera, dysentery) associated with floods and respiratory diseases associated with droughts; Heavy rainfalls which tend to accelerate land degradation; Damage to communication infrastructure by floods. Agricultural performance in Uganda fluctuates with changes in climate. Consequently, GDP growth and inflation rates often correspond with performance of rainfall seasons.

Source:

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/napa/uga01.pdf

Terminologies:

Dengue fever: a disease that is caused by four closely related viruses that are maintained in a human-Aedes aegypti-human cycle in most urban centres of the tropics. The geographic distribution of the dengue viruses and mosquito vectors (Aedes aegypti and A albopictus) has expanded to the point that dengue has become a major tropical urban health problem. More rainfall in certain areas and warmer temperatures overall are providing optimal conditions for mosquitoes—which spread the virus that causes dengue to breed and expand into new territories. 

Extreme weather events: an extreme weather event is an event that is rare within its statistical reference distribution at a particular place. Definitions of extreme weather events vary, but an extreme weather event would normally be as rare as or rarer than the 10th or 90th percentile. By definition, the characteristics of what is called extreme weather may vary from place to place.

Ice cap: a dome shaped ice mass covering a highland area that is considerably smaller in extent than an ice sheet.