Uganda has welcomed over 800,000 refugees from South Sudan since July. Uganda has offered land in Northern Uganda for the refugees to settle.

It has been reported that in March 2017, 2,800 people arrived in Uganda every day from South Sudan. These are people fleeing from famine, economic collapse and conflict that has been occurring in the country for the last couple of months. These issues have forced people to vacate their country at a very faster rate more than it has ever happened on this planet.

Thousands and thousands of people have loaded on the current land that has been given to refugees beyond its normal load. Uganda has received over 1.6 million people fleeing from their homes to northern side of Uganda.  

Having  one of the world?s most compassionate refugee policies, the Ugandan government has allowed migrants to build a home and enjoy rights to travel and work around the country and also enjoy benefits just like the local Ugandans. This is a policy that is practically unheard of anywhere else.

Despite the fact that  Uganda  has been recognized as having the world?s biggest refugee camp,  Bidi Bidi, without relief and enough resources in sight, the gaps are beginning to show.

A single settlement of Bidi Bidi hosts at least 270,000 refugees, this outcompetes any refugee camp in the world. A total of two new settlements are opened every year. Just four months into 2017, 400, 000 refugees have been received by the country. Can you imagine the Acres of land that they occupy? Can you envision with me the strain that they are putting on the environment?

However much the refugees have been offered places to stay, the response to their needs continues to be meager due to the small funding. The demand outshines the supply.

This has culminated into the danger of profound environmental damage to some of the northern districts that are already poor. The refuges are entirely depending on wood to cook and build, brick making, tree cutting, charcoal, tobacco curing which consumes millions and millions of trees a year.

The over reliance on the natural resources for economic activities, a case in point sand mining which is breaking down riverbanks. Food insecurity and water scarcity has as well got to the brim. Water is specifically tanked from the Nile to accommodate the water needs for all the population and the refugee camps. The Nile is a shared Ecosystem by 11 countries and a strain on it does not affect Uganda alone but also all the Nile basin communities that are deriving livelihood from the Nile.

I give credit to the government for showing compassion to the refugees, but as Uganda becomes the country with the largest number of refugees worldwide, the big question that keeps resonating in my mind is that, how do we make the refugees and host communities lead a more sustainable life?! Do they have to use wood to cook? Should we lose Big trees like mahogany, sheer trees in the name of looking for day to day livelihood? If a long spell of drought arises, of course it is beyond doubt that anyone will remain in these spaces, they will go out looking for more favorable climates, will these still be called refugees? Chances are they will become? climate change refugees?. How about if the Waters in the Nile dwindle to their lowest point?! I bet anyone would want to know what happens next, may be the next war will be the water war!? Who knows!