Parliament has hosted the first East African Community’s Children Summit for Climate Change, with legislators calling for children’s inclusion in issues pertaining climate change.
The Chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children (UPFC), Hon. Susan Abeja, said the summit aimed at urging East African governments to meaningfully involve children in developing policies and interventions to address climate change.
Abeja who is also the Otuke District Woman MP, said children are among those most affected by climate change, despite contributing the least to the crisis.
“Our position as the Forum is clear, children must not only be protected from the effects of climate change, they must be meaningfully involved in shaping the solutions,” she said adding that “Children are experiencing the consequences of environmental degradation, floods, droughts and other climate-related emergencies, despite having contributed the least to the causes of this crisis.”
Abeja was speaking at the inaugural summit held under the theme: “Children Leading East African Integration: Climate, Peace and Prosperity” held at Parliament on Friday, 16 October 2026.
The event was also attended by MPs under the Forum, MPs from the East Africa Legislative Assembly, the Deputy Secretary General for East African Community, Hon. Andrea Ariik Malueth and development partners.
Nakasongola County MP, Hon. Ivan Kyeyune commended the organisers for involving children in climate-change discussions, saying the initiative should challenge adults who have prioritised businesses at the expense of environmental crises.
“It is us the elders who have prioritized commercialised farming at the expense of wetlands. It is the elders that prefer having factories in wetlands, favoring job creation over environmental protection, yet our children suffer these effects including lack of water and food such that I have seen those who go to school without food,” Kyeyune said.
Kyeyune urged children to begin with practical actions within their communities, including each planting at least five trees.
The Chief of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), Environment and Climate Change at UNICEF Uganda, Lalit Patra urged MPs to make commitments on climate change for implementation within their constituencies. Patra also asked MPs to establish climate change-youth groups in their constituencies to sustain their initiatives beyond the summit.
Representing the Ministry of Water and Environment, Dr. Flavia Byekwaso said the government must move to investing in climate-resilient schools and other public facilities while ensuring access to clean water and renewable energy.
She said children must be consulted during the formulation of climate-change policies, because they experience the effects of environmental degradation and will live longest with the consequences of decisions taken today.
The summit concludes with a Climate Champions Weekend on Saturday, 17 October 2026 where participants will plant 5,000 trees at Forest High School in Kasanda District.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.