The Gulu District chairman, Mr Norbert Mao, has warned Great Lakes Region environmentalists of a war over water if the issue of climatic change is not handled in time.

Mr Mao was addressing environmentalists and Great Lakes region parliamentarians during the opening of the Regional Parliamentary Forum on Environmental Security in Kampala yesterday.

Mr Mao said: "As the climate changes, the most important resource is going to be water. People are going to be competing for the scarce water and this is going to lead to a serious war. There's already a manifestation of this in Turkana where pastoralists kill themselves over the little pasture left for there cattle."

He added: "This water was protected by our ancestors and it is the duty of all of us to be stewards." Mr Mao accused African leaders of contributing to the possibility of war by selfishly signing complicated agreements with developed countries, and emphasising industrialisation without clear-cut regulations to the industries formed.

"Rich countries have forced our governments to sign deals to supply them with fresh water When things go bad our leaders end up getting huge sums of money at our expense," he said.

He added: "Our governments emphasise industrialisation but they are too weak to regulate those who are industrialising and this is affecting the environment. Most factories are polluting the environment but no one is there to see whether they are following the environmental regulations.