**2. Uganda country profile**

Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa across the equator, located between longitudes 29° 34′ and 35° 0′ East, and latitudes 4° 12′ North and 1° 29′ South. It covers an area of 241,550 km2 of which 41,743 km<sup>2</sup> (17.2%) is open water and swamps, and the land area is 199,807 km2 [3]. The terrain is mostly plateau raging between 1000 and 2, 500 meters above sea level (a.s.l.) averaging about 1,200 meters a.s.l. The lowest point is 620 metres (in the Albert Nile) and the highest point is at 5100 meters (the peak of Mt. Rwenzori) [4]. The main mountain areas are Mt. Rwenzori, permanently snow-capped mountain located in Western Uganda marking the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Mt. Elgon (4,321 m a.s.l), an extinct volcano in the eastern part of the country at the border with Kenya, and Mt. Muhavura (4,127 m a.s.l.) in the south-west bordering Rwanda and D.R.C.

Uganda is generally fertile, and well-watered country with many lakes and rivers. The most important water bodies include the Nile River, one of the world's longest, and whose source is Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa. Other major lakes are Kyoga, Albert, Edward and George. Uganda has a pleasant tropical climate, with moderate temperatures and the rainfall is more regular with a bimodal

<sup>1</sup> ND-GAIN index summarizes a country's vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges in combination with readiness to improve resilience. https://gain.nd.edu/our-work/country-index/

#### *The Energy and Climate Change Nexus in Uganda: Policy Challenges and Opportunities… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99353*

rainfall distribution. The main rainy seasons are from March to May and October to December, although though the northern part has a single rainy season from March to mid-October. Mean daily temperatures are 28°C and the long-term mean near-surface temperature is 21°C. The highest temperatures are observed in the north, especially the north-east, while lower temperatures occur in the south, and these mild conditions make climate one of Uganda's most valuable natural resources [4, 5]. However, the climate is becoming more variable and changing i.e. temperatures are rising, rainfall is becoming more erratic and unreliable, and extreme weather events are on the rise. It is widely expected that the impacts of climate change will be felt in varying degrees across all the country's sectors and regions [6].

Uganda's population is still small, estimated to be 41 million (Uganda Bureau of Statistics - [7]) of which 51% are female and 49% are male, and the life expectancy at birth at 63.1 years having increased from 50.4 years in 2002 [8]. The highest proportion of the country's population (54%) is young, under 18 years, and 73% of population living in rural areas while only 27% is urban [7]. The challenge is that the population is growing very rapidly at 3% per annum, making it one of the world's fastest growing populations and [9], and the political leadership (government) seems to be happy with this population growth trend. At this growth rate, it is projected that Uganda's population will reach 57 million and 72 million by 2030 and 2049 respectively [10]. While the proportion of the urban population is still small, the country is also urbanizing very fast with one of the world's' highest annual urban population growth rates at more 5% [11]. Kampala, the capital is also largest city in the country, with the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area accounting for more than 60% of the country's GDP.

Uganda is a Least Developed Country (LDC), and indeed a highly indebted poor country (HIPC), with per capita GDP of USD 794.3 [12], and annual growth

was 2.9% in 2020, less than half the 6.8% recorded in 2019, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy [13] and the debt to GDP ratio is very high 50.09% at in mid 2021. As at 2019, the population living below the poverty line was still high at 20.3%, with approx. 1.3 people living in absolute poverty [7]. The highest poverty rates are in northern Uganda in Acholi sub-region (67.7%) and Karamoja sub-region (65.7%), and the lowest is in the central region i.e. Kampala (1.6%) and Buganda (6.9%), (see **Figure 1**).

The country's long-term goal, articulated in the Uganda Vision 2040 [2], is 'transforming Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years' and attainment of a middle-income country (MIC) status in which per capita income was envisaged to increase from USD 506 in 2010 to USD 908 in 2020, when the country would supposedly achieve a lower MIC status and then striving to achieve an upper MIC status by 2040 with a per capita income of USD 9,500. However as of 2021, the country had not yet achieved the MIC status. Agriculture is the Uganda's main economic activity employing around 64.3% of the country's population (47% employed in susbsistence farming), and acconted for 21.9% to the GDP in 2018/2019. Approx. 28% of the children are in child labour. However, the services and industrial sectors are also expanding and their contribution to GDP is increasing now standing at 51.1% and 18.7% respectively [7, 14, 15].
