Fish are a significant source of income and food security in Uganda, highly vulnerable to climate and non-climate related drivers of change. This working paper from the WorldFish Center examines the vulnerability of the fish sector in Uganda as it relates to the predicted impacts from climate change and variability, using the concept of the value chain.

The specific purpose of the study was to identify current and potential impact pathways of climate change and corresponding adaptation strategies in fish value chains.

Key Findings include:

• Fish contribute significantly to Uganda’s national economy and food security. Fisheries and aquaculture are vulnerable to climate change, variability, and additional non-climate related drivers of change, in particular, rapid population growth.

• Value chain analysis is a useful tool to study a sector’s challenges resulting from various drivers of change,including climate. The impacts of climate change in Uganda result from an increase in mean air temperature,shifting precipitation patterns, and an increase in extreme weather events.

• The Nile perch export chain is relatively well-developed compared to the chain for domestically-consumed lower value fish, specifically in production and processing. Mukene and Nile perch value chains differ significantly, but may be impacted by climate change and variability in similar ways related to production, processing and transport.

• Adaptation planning to decrease vulnerability within the fisheries value chain may involve supporting fishers’ advocacy and safety, and developing and disseminating post-harvest handling techno logies.

• Aquaculture in Uganda is promoted as a promising commercial venture to meet consumer demand for fish and support community livelihoods. However, the aquaculture value chain shows weaknesses in input supply and delivery, resulting in low productivity. A combination of climate-related threats may further weaken input supply and threaten pond productivity.

• There are many opportunities to improve input market channels, and train and support fish farmers through periods of unpredictable precipitation and/or extreme weather such as dr oughts and floods.

• There is an opportunity to support an enabling environment for adaptation and discourage negative informal adaptation by incorporating climate change as a cross-cutting issue within differing governance structures for fisheries and aquaculture.

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