Ronah Masika remembers when she could still see the snowy caps of the Rwenzori mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The view was stunning every time she travelled from her home in Kasese town to the Ugandan capital, Kampala – and it was not even that long ago.
But now she cannot even catch a glimpse of the ice because the glacier is receding. And it is not only the view that has changed.
Ms Masika recalls her grandmother used to grow beans to feed her family, and they would last until a new crop was ready to be harvested.
“Now I and other people find it difficult to sustain ourselves with what we plant at home, because everything gets destroyed by floods or drought. It’s either too much drought or too much rain.
“It’s making me uncomfortable, thinking of how the next generation is going to survive this horrible situation,” says Ms Masika, who now works on a project to mitigate the impact of the shifting environment.
Climate change is affecting the Rwenzori Mountains in different ways. Read more…
