The number of people grazing their livestock in protected forests has risen dramatically in recent years. Photo Credit: Thatcher Cook/Mercy Corps

As the world marks the Forest Day today, there is little to celebrate in Uganda. The country's forests are disappearing at an alarming rate of 2% per year, the highest in the world. Six thousand hectares of trees are being cut down every month, 72,000 hectares in 2006. At this pace, Uganda's forests will have gone in 50 years.

In comparison, forest loss in the whole of Africa stands at 0.6%, while forest loss in the world stands at 0.18%. At this pace, Uganda's forests will have gone in 50 years time.

Population pressure and poverty are the underlying causes. With 7.1 births per woman, Uganda has the second highest fertility rate in the world. Only Niger, with 7.9 births per woman, scores higher.

At the current pace, Uganda's forests will have gone in 50 years time.

By 2050, according to the UN, Uganda's population will have soared to 130 million, almost five times the current number.

Feeding, housing, creating jobs and income for so many people will inevitably eat into the forests. Presently, 97% of the population uses charcoal and firewood for cooking. Illegal timber logging and trade has resumed in several parts of the country, at times with the support of local politicians.

"Lawlessness and community hostility have inflamed to a level where any decisive action now leads to mob action, resulting into grievous bodily harm to National Forestry Authority's staff."

Encroachment in the central forest reserves is on the rise. The number of people building houses, farming and grazing their livestock in the protected forests went up from 180,000 to 220,000 between 2005 and 2006, an increase of 23%. The encroachers, who are increasingly better organised, fiercely resist any attempts by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) to evict them.

"Lawlessness and community hostility have inflamed to a level where any decisive action now leads to mob action, resulting into grievous bodily harm to NFA's staff," says the organisation's annual report, to be released today.

Deforestation leads to climate change and drought. Trees absorb carbon dioxide (emissions from cars and planes) which traps heat escaping from the earth, leading to global warming. Long spells of drought will become more frequent and affect agriculture, cattle keeping and ultimately people's livelihoods.

Scientists are also linking a rise in new and previously wiped out infectious diseases to loss of forests and climate change.

"Climate change may aggravate the threats of infectious diseases," a recent press statement of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reads.

By increasing the temperatures under which certain diseases and their carriers flourish, more regions will be affected and epidemics will become more frequent.

"Climate change may aggravate the threats of infectious diseases."

Kabale in South Uganda, which never had malaria in the past, is now also hit by the disease.

Climate change may also increase the number of environmental refugees who are forced to migrate to other parts of the country or other countries, UNEP warns. "This in turn will favour the spread of diseases from one location to another where the population may be more susceptible."

Yet, development does not need to lead to deforestation. Tree planting, timber trade and eco-tourism, if properly managed and controlled, can turn into a major employment creation activity, as success stories in this newspaper show.

The New Vision will therefore distribute eight million seeds to its readers as part of a country-wide effort to promote sustainable development.




Contributed by Gerald Tenywa, from New Vision. Reprinted with permission from allAfrica.com. Copyright © 2007 allAfrica.com. All rights reserved.

To read another Global Envision article about climate change, see Inconvenient Truths.



Return to top