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Nestled in Uganda\u2019s Kamwanyi village on the lush western slopes of\u00a0Mount Elgon \u2014 a vast, 24-million-year-old extinct volcano that straddles the border between Uganda and Kenya \u2014 Francis Gidegi\u2019s three-acre farm benefits from fertile soils, cool mountain air, and steady rains. The volcano\u2019s higher reaches are protected as a national park, but its lower slopes sustain more than\u00a0500,000 people.<\/p>\n
Every decision Gidegi makes is deliberate. The 46-year-old delights in naming the deep-rooted indigenous trees \u2014 like jackfruit, avocado, and Cordia africana \u2014 that he plants to bind the soil. He also grows perennial crops, like robusta coffee, that stabilize the land alongside short-term crops like onions and maize. He explains that the trenches and contours he\u2019s carved into the hillside slow water flow and prevent erosion.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the quickest or easiest way to produce crops, but for Gidegi, these efforts are necessary to safeguard his family of 15 in a landscape that offers both abundance and deadly risks. \u201cWorking like this is the only way we can stay,\u201d he says. \u201cOtherwise, it is too dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
In November 2024, heavy rainfall triggered a series of\u00a0landslides that tore through villages in the mountains of Bulambuli district, including Kamwanyi, where torrents of mud and rock swept everything from their path, displacing hundreds, destroying roads, and leaving behind deep crevasses where homes once stood.\u00a0At least 28 people died, including two of Gidegi\u2019s brothers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, we were cutting down trees, using chemicals, and burning bush,\u201d says a Mount Elgon farmer. \u201cBut now we have stopped that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Landslides have long plagued the mountain, but they\u2019ve grown\u00a0more frequent and destructive in the last two decades\u00a0as a burgeoning population alters the landscape\u00a0and heavy rains, which saturate soil and loosen rocks, intensify.\u00a0Hillsides once anchored by forests have been cleared for timber and housing, and fast-growing crops like maize and beans have left the soil degraded and unstable.\u00a0A 2025 study found that the Mount Elgon\u00a0biosphere reserve\u2019s transition zone, where human activity is permitted, has experienced\u00a0a 76.7 percent decline in\u00a0forest cover.<\/p>\n
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As experts warn that landslides in the mountains of Uganda are occurring more often and are deadlier, farming these slopes becomes increasingly precarious. But rather than abandon their homes and livelihoods, many local farmers are urgently turning to new methods to build resilience against future disasters. These practices aim not only to reduce the risk of destructive landslides, but also to restore the soil before creeping degradation strips it of its ability to grow food.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Gidegi says,\u00a0\u201cAdapting is better than evacuating.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2017, a local cooperative called MEACCE began teaching\u00a0Mount Elgon farmers the techniques of agroforestry, a land-management system in which\u00a0trees are managed together with agricultural crops and animals. When well-designed,\u00a0agroforestry\u00a0increases productivity, reduces soil erosion, improves water conservation, and supports food security and livelihoods. Though difficult to quantify precisely, agroforestry is widespread \u2014 especially in Southeast Asia and Central and South America \u2014 and\u00a0it is\u00a0recognized globally for its role in climate adaptation, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation.<\/p>\n
Villagers search for the victims of a landslide in Bulambuli, Uganda, November 2024.<\/span> Gidegi was aware of MEACCE\u2019s methods but had continued to rely on farming practices such as monocropping that cause erosion and deplete soil fertility. The devastation of November 2024 marked a turning point for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n That month, he and his family were among hundreds of people resettled to a flat, crowded area at the foot of\u00a0Mount Elgon. The hot weather and unfamiliar soil were a stark contrast to the rich highland his family had cultivated for generations. In April, he returned to Kamwanyi to start over again. But this time, his farming focused on healing the land, not harming it.<\/p>\n Gidegi began by planting a mixture of perennial crops and indigenous trees and digging trenches to divert stormwater.\u00a0\u201cBefore, we were cutting down trees, using chemicals, and burning bush,\u201d Gidegi says. \u201cBut now we have stopped that.\u201d<\/p>\n Following\u00a0a spate of lethal landslides, farmers like Gidegi across\u00a0Mount Elgon are transforming their farms with support from a growing network of initiatives backed by cultural institutions, NGOs, and\u00a0the United Nations. But this isn\u2019t just a fringe group of well-meaning farmers. Thousands of residents have been trained in agroforestry techniques that improve soil health and water retention;\u00a0millions of native tree seedlings have been\u00a0planted.<\/p>\n Fast-growing, exotic tree species \u2014 often favored for timber \u2014 can worsen land degradation by drying out soil and depleting nutrients.<\/p>\n Rogers Fungo, a project officer at MEACCE, said landslides\u00a0laid bare the dangers of continuing harmful farming practices and often accelerated community participation.\u00a0\u201cPeople lost their lives, properties, crops, animals,\u201d he said. \u201cThey saw the negative impact, and they understood they could make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon Nabwita, 42, lost his father in the November landslides but chose to stay on the mountain. Like Gidegi, Nabwita has since received training, seedlings, and tools from MEACCE. \u201cI think this land can be safe,\u201d Nabwita says, noting that without the cooperative\u2019s support he would have left the mountain. \u201cThe trees are still young, but whatever you plant here can grow easily, and now we are strengthening the soil,\u201d he adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n But landslide prevention isn\u2019t simple, and neither is restoring degraded land. Solutions must match the landscape and have community buy-in. Further reducing vulnerability in the long-term depends as much on communication and continuity as it does on seedlings and soil.<\/p>\n Tree selection illustrates this complexity. Indigenous species help stabilize the soil and support local ecosystems, while fast-growing, exotic species \u2014 often favored for timber \u2014 can worsen land degradation by drying out soil and depleting nutrients.<\/p>\n Left: A trench dug to divert runoff at a farm in Bududa, Uganda. Right: Jackfruit trees on a Bududa farm anchor the soil, slowing erosion.<\/span> While the government often urges communities to plant trees, says Eria Serwajja, a lecturer in the department of development studies at Uganda\u2019s Makerere University, it rarely specifies which types are appropriate. \u201cThey will give thousands of trees that are pine or eucalyptus for free,\u201d he said. \u201cBut in the end, these are depleting the soils even further.\u201d<\/p>\n How natural solutions can help islands survive sea level rise. Read more.\u00a0<\/p>\n Agroforestry is also more labor-intensive than traditional farming methods and demands patience for slower-growing perennial crops, like coffee, and for native, deep-rooted trees. According to the\u00a0Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,\u00a0agroforestry sees profitable returns after three to eight years, while traditional annual cropping systems normally see profits within one to two years.\u00a0For families focused on survival, it\u2019s difficult to embrace approaches that don\u2019t deliver immediate benefits. And while NGOs and individual projects can make a meaningful difference in the present, their impact can be short-lived if funding ends and farmers slip back into old practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n Frank Mugagga, a geography lecturer at Makerere University, believes a community-driven approach can address these challenges. \u201cIf you work with the communities in the identification of the problem, in the design of the solutions, they will be part and parcel of the whole initiative,\u201d he said. \u201cThen there will be continuity beyond the programs.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021, the World Bank warned that climate change and heavier rainfall could escalate the risk of landslides in Uganda\u2019s mountain regions.<\/p>\n In the Bududa District of\u00a0Mount Elgon, where torrential rain triggered a 2010 landslide that killed at least 350 people, that collaborative, bottom-up approach is now taking root.<\/p>\n Common Ground, a Wageningen University development project implemented by the nonprofit Integrated Seed and Sector Development Uganda, starts by asking communities to map out their problems on posters, visualize their future in drawings, and pinpoint what needs to be done. Once the community identifies a need, Common Ground provides practical training.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project\u2019s so-called Participatory Integrated Planning approach (PIP) also relies on collaborative peer-to-peer training for a better chance at continuity should project funding stop: first, the community identifies 30 people for training in techniques that restore the soil, such as intercropping, mulching, and constructing \u201ctrash lines\u201d \u2014 horizontal\u00a0barriers made of sticks, branches, and leaves\u2014to slow and distribute rainfall on steep slopes.\u00a0Then, each of those 30 trainers goes on to train 10 others.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe landslide is not the problem,\u201d said Aad Kessler, a researcher at Wageningen and an expert in PIP.\u00a0 The problem, he said, is that living in poverty traps farmers in short-term perspectives, which can lead to damaging land practices.\u00a0\u201cOur approach is really how to engage farmers in this change in mindset, so they realize the urgency to really change land use.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Joyce Namono shares her farm plan, a tailored guide to resilient farming.<\/span> Kessler says Common Ground, which began in 2022, targets 50,000 households for training and aims to have 28,000 acres \u201csustainably managed\u201d \u2014 measured by using at least three of the \u201cbest practices\u201d they are taught \u2014 across\u00a0Mount Elgon by the end of 2026. The goal is to build enough local capacity that the work continues long after Common Ground is gone.<\/p>\n Mugagga praised the efforts of Common Ground and its predecessor, the Manafwa Watershed Project, which began in 2019. \u201cIn terms of where we started from, you see a lot of change in terms of the areas being safeguarded against soil erosion,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cPeople are safer in terms of being protected, but also their livelihoods are better.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, serious challenges remain, including external pressures beyond the control of even the most committed communities. In 2021,\u00a0the World Bank\u00a0warned that climate change and heavier rainfall could escalate the risk of landslides in Uganda\u2019s mountain regions by loosening mud and rocks.\u00a0The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also\u00a0projects that East Africa will see more frequent and intense rainfall as global temperatures rise. In Uganda alone, average temperatures have already increased\u00a0by 1.3 degrees C since 1960, and\u00a0a 2020 study reported \u201crecord-breaking extremes\u201d during East Africa\u2019s spring rains.<\/p>\n Despite the ongoing risks of living on Mount Elgon, hundreds of thousands of people remain here, often because they have few alternatives.<\/p>\n Makerere University\u2019s Serwajja said restorations efforts were becoming \u201cmore important as we head towards more extreme weather,\u201d and that the impacts of climate change were \u201calready unfolding\u201d on the mountain,\u00a0referring to recent disasters. \u201cPopulation pressure and erratic climate patterns, when the two march together, the intensity, the ferocity of landslides, also increases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Unpredictable weather also complicates planning, especially for small-scale farmers depending on rain-fed agriculture. \u201cIt\u2019s harder to plan and to be as strategic as these resilience methods require,\u201d said John Sembera, a PIP supervisor. \u201cClimate change has messed with our national planting calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob Nakileza, a geographer and the executive director of Uganda\u2019s Mountain Innovations and Research Institute, said restoring soils could \u201csave lives,\u201d noting that there was \u201cdefinitely some reduction in the occurrence of debris flows and shallow landslides\u201d in areas where agroforestry and tree planting have been practiced. Still, he called for more research into which interventions are most effective and\u00a0whether they can prevent future catastrophes.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Mexico\u2019s \u2018avocado belt,\u2019 villagers stand up to protect their lands. Read more.<\/p>\n Despite the ongoing risks of living on the slopes of\u00a0Mount Elgon, hundreds of thousands of people remain here, often because they have few alternatives. For subsistence farmers like Gidegi, leaving isn\u2019t an option. And so he continues with his mitigation efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe place you were born is the place you prefer,\u201d Gidegi says. \u201cIf we continue to work like this, we are going to benefit. We shall not face the same problems again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nestled in Uganda\u2019s Kamwanyi village on the lush western slopes of\u00a0Mount Elgon \u2014 a vast, 24-million-year-old extinct volcano that straddles the border between Uganda and Kenya \u2014 Francis Gidegi\u2019s three-acre farm benefits from fertile soils, cool mountain air, and steady rains. 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\n Hajarah Nalwadda \/ Xinhua via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Freddie Clayton<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Freddie Clayton<\/span><\/p>\n