EMERGING GLOBAL CHALLENGES: Climate-related hazards and urbanization:Protecting Uganda’s children

Climate change and urbanization have been identified as major challenges that will have an increasingly significant impact on the well-being of children in coming decades, particularly on the poorest and most vulnerable children (UNICEF 2016). This is nowhere more so than in Uganda, which is already frequently affected by droughts and where the rate of urbanization is high. Uganda has made great strides in reducing poverty in recent decades. However, child poverty remains high with more than 50 per cent of children aged under five living in poverty. Children represent more than half of the population and, as such, the country’s vision of becoming a middle-income country by 2040 remains highly contingent on government’s ability to safeguard the rights of its children.