Abstract: Eastern Uganda in East Africa is one of the most flood-prone regions of Uganda. The area for this study is situated in a lake basin ecosystem which is surrounded by highland locations and fed my three rivers. Despite being highly prone to flooding, the basin is home to over half a million small scale farmers who derive their livelihoods from this ecosystem. Land fertility in the basin area is one of the push-factors for the continued habitation of the watershed. Consequently, past attempts by the Government to relocate communities from this area have been resisted. There is however a paucity of knowledge on how communities reduce flood disaster risk and mitigate flood disaster effects in this fragile ecosystem. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the communities’ capacities, not just to survive but to thrive in the flood-prone watersheds through sustainably balancing land use, environmental conservation and disaster risk reduction. The study indicates that whereas the communities have proactively put in place some measures, these efforts are too localized and too rudimentary to significantly reduce their risk to flood disasters. Strengthening the communities’ endogenous action for flood disaster risk reduction is therefore an imperative. A combination of endogenous community action and exogenous support would particularly enable the communities at risk of flood disasters not just to survive but to thrive in the flood-prone watersheds through balancing production and environmental conservation.
Keywords: Capacities, Disaster, Floods, Risk Reduction, Endogenous Action, Exogenous support.
Title: From Surviving to Thriving: Evaluating Communities’ Capacities for Flood Disaster Risk Reduction in Eastern Uganda
Author: A. Enyipu, J. Mwine, M. Masanza
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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