Hoima is not a big City, but when Jovia Kiiza, who had last visited five years ago came back in January 2025, she got lost.
Gone were the dusty muddy roads, with only a few patched with tarmac. The cows and goats roaming the side streets of the central business district were gone too.
Using borrowed funds, the Uganda government constructed neatly paved roads befitting the Hoima Oil City status.
The government also constructed infrastructure such as bridges, roads to the oil fields and Hoima International Airport to enable transportation of equipment to establish oil production facilities.
Local businesspersons hoping to reap big from the petro dollars have also invested in real estate, hotels, lodges, fuel stations, private health centres, rentals, modern bars and nightclubs.
With these developments, Hoima has lost some grasslands, flowers and shrubs. Some standing Mivule trees along the streets, which used to be nesting places for birds and under whose shed city dwellers would have a nap after a day’s hassle, are now covered in concrete.
According to a Global Forest Watch report, in 2020, Hoima had 64.3 kilo hectares of natural forest, extending over 18% of its land area.
In 2023, it lost 1.58-kilo hectares of natural forest, equivalent to 1.26 metric tonnes of carbon emissions.
Carbon emissions, the leading cause of climate change, are about to get worse for Hoima and the surrounding Bunyoro sub region.
Other facilities such as the source for East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), an oil refinery, petrochemical industries and waste management facilities are some of the proposed developments in Bunyoro. All these developments will play a role in driving up greenhouse gas emissions.
Hoima’s growth and the many developments come at a time, when it appears the leadership in Bunyoro is unprepared to deal with all the carbon footprint that is to be generated on account of the oil extraction activities.
Investigations reveal that the City planners have yet to explore ways to create sustainable urban living-growth and development and ensure that the denuded vegetation is replenished or new one is planted.
Officials are allegedly ignoring the need to replenish tree cover, even when the funding has been provided during the planning stage of projects.
An official in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development highlights the case of the World Bank funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme. Thanks to funding provided under USMID, the roads to be tarmacked had a component of greening and tree planting.
“Each City had its different parameters to plant trees depending on the terrain and money was provided. The contractors are supervised by the City Engineer, so you can call him and find out” a source with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development in whose docket USMID falls told The Albertine Journal on condition of anonymity.
Only grasslands were replaced without trees in some parts. Efforts to get a comment from the City Engineer, Bonaventure Kiiza were futile by press time.
Gloria Mugonzebwa, the Coordinator for Bunyoro Albertine Petroleum Network on Environmental Conservation (BAPENECO), a local organisation told The Albertine Journal on January 22, that the political and technical leadership of Hoima is not doing enough to safeguard the city against the inevitable detrimental changes that oil exploitation can wrought.
She says the leadership seems to be downplaying the urgency of climate change and impacts of oil production on society and the environment.
“Hoima’s leadership is setting the oil city up for the negative effects of climate change, deforestation and water stress. As a matter of urgency city authorities need to make greening of urban spaces a priority”.
Mugonzebwa says Hoima should also strive to sensitise citizens to conserve the existing trees, while incentivising access and use of clean energy.
She adds that the city streets should by now be lined up with trees to replenish the depleted ones, noting that benefits include improved aesthetics of Hoima, the provision of oxygen, stopping noise pollution and improving air quality. Other benefits include conservation of water and soil.
As things stand, Hoima lacks improved wastewater collection infrastructure that soaks up rainwater that may otherwise cause flooding.
Although solid waste is routinely dumped at Kibati landfill, 3 kilometres from the city centre-non-biodegradable plastic waste, are not recycled or well disposed of.
Residents there are concerned that leaked water from contiguous rubbish dumps percolates into water sources and makes the entire area uninhabitable.
The city does not yet have concrete plans to deal with liquid waste and wastewater, which continues to damage the ecosystem, as it pours in wetlands untreated.
These already degraded wetlands are unhealthy for aquatic life, Hoima and the Bunyoro host important water bodies such as Lake Albert.
What should be done
Nassa Biira the Executive Director at Recreation for Development and Peace-RDP Uganda says the city must zone public lands that can be developed into green belts, as a way to increase tree cover.
He said there is a need to pick interest in urban green investments and then adopt modern eco-friendly urban conservation measures such as farmer managed natural regeneration.
Bbiira adds that even with a small plot of land, people can implement environmental conservation. There exists appropriate policy such as the one dictating that 20% of the land must be greened.
“Greening is an attitude. More campaigns should be made to popularise the issue of greening,” he added.
Hoima city urban greening plan
Brian Kaboyo, the Hoima City Mayor says they are aware of the benefits of incorporating greening into their future.
According to the mayor, the plan to plant more trees exists and Hoima has previously been successful planting 2,000 with the help of corporate entities in Uganda.
However, Kaboyo calls for adequate funding for the city to carry out the climate change activities assigned to them and funds to address the challenge of post-carbon transformation.
On top of lining streets with trees, this effort extends to 33 primary schools, 7 secondary schools, 4 tertiary institutions, and health centres, collectively contributing to making Hoima a greener city.
The city in November 2023 also launched a collaborative campaign to initiate a tree-planting campaign of 50,000 indigenous species.
How cities contribute to solutions
Cities, where the majority of the world’s population live, are vital actors in addressing climate change.
Well-planned, compact cities can be highly resource-efficient and lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions per person.
Cities, as centres of expertise and innovation, can invest in greening sectors, such as transport, buildings and waste management, creating jobs and supporting long-term economic growth.
In the flow of goods and services, cities can be leaders in creating demand for environmentally-friendly products and sustainable consumption.
