INDIGENOUS ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Welcome to Mukongoro, Kitariro, Kihembe, and Byumba, Indigenous Batwa communities located in south-western Uganda. These settlements have been created out of forced displacement, an unjust, inescapable element of Batwa life. As a result of their forced resettlement from their traditional forests, modern Batwa life matches their traditions only in spirit. Daily life mimics that of the Bakiga, the tribe whose land the Batwa now occupy and whose customs they borrow to survive in an environment their traditions have not prepared them for. In addition, they face a changing climate that challenges their remote rural lifestyle. Through the portraits and essays in this website, the communities invite you to explore their daily life and the stories behind it. Please read and appreciate the hard, happy, changing lives of a few Batwa.

DISPLACEMENT

FARMING

WORKING

EATING

AUTHORS

The website, writing, and photography is the creation of Matthew King and the IHACC research group. Since Matthew is not a member of a Batwa community, the information is told from his outsider perspective, with the communities' consent. Matthew lived near the communities while creating this piece in order to depict stories as accurate and respectful as possible.

The Communities

The communities' participation and help made this project what it is. The information and photography spread throughout this website is entirely informed by the communities themselves.

IHACC

Matthew King

Grace Asaarira

Emma Windfeld

​IHACC is the international research group behind the project. Please visit their website to learn more about their work studying how some of the world's most vulnerable peoples are responding to climate change.

Photographer and author of the website, Matthew is a freelance photographer working with IHACC. Using photography, he hopes to promote their research initiatives and results in creative ways.

From Buhoma, Grace is an IHACC researcher with years of experience and friendship within the Batwa communities. She is interested in researching maternal health and its relation to climate change.

Emma is a Canadian IHACC researcher who has worked from Uganda to Cape Town. She has most recently worked to create a crop calendar with the Batwa communities. Her research helped inform this project greatly.

This work was made possible by the institutional and financial support of Leeds University and Makerere University. The work presented here does not necessarily represent the opinion of either of these two institutions. 

DISPLACEMENT