Uganda’s National Transport Master Plan: Potential for low carbon development

Uganda is one of the poorest nations in the world and stands to be disproportionally affected by rising global temperatures and climate change. Recognizing this, international aid and domestic policy have been working together for decades to develop the economy of the country. In 2009 Uganda’s National Transport Plan was published. This document has not been updated since. However, many of its statements have been updated and included in Uganda’s National Development Planning Framework documents that seek to increase economic development in the country while reducing or eliminating negative climate impacts. The transportation section of the plan states that the Ugandan government and transportation sector will work together to:

• Develop integrated planning and management of transport infrastructure with insights on climate prediction. The primary focus of this development is to identify stakeholders (10 listed in the plan) and facilitate information transfer and cooperation between them.
• Promote the development of a long-term national transport policy that will include greenhouse gas mitigation. The transport plan uses an assessment of vehicle usage by type (50% motorcycle, 30% passenger vehicles, 12% light-good vehicles, 6% heavy vehicles, and 2% agriculture vehicles) and developing targeted plans to reduce emissions in that vehicle type.
• Funding international and national aid to build infrastructure identified by the stakeholders that encourages usage of low-emission transportation methods. Building a robust national road system was identified as essential to both economic growth and using the least emitting transportation means.

This report summarizes the efforts under the various documents produced by the Ugandan government and outlines the roles of different organizations and policies.