opgave spreads

8/3/2019 Opgave Spreads

1/12

POLICY BRIEFThe Drivers Behind Private Natural Forest Degradation in Uganda


2/12

Executive Summary

This policy brie examines the drivers behind degradation o private natural orests

in Uganda based on extensive eldwork conducted in the Kibaale district in Western

Uganda. Ugandas private natural orests are under immense pressure and are predicted

to be extinct in 20 years. It is explained how the loss o orest cover is directly impacted

by rapid population growth which in turn creates an increasing demand or armland to

the detriment o private natural orests. It is, however, made clear that these are not so

much causes o deorestation as mechanisms by which the true underlying causes are

transormed into actions that degrade the environment. The underlying causes in this

case being the institutional and policy ramework or orestry management. The policy

brie thereore reviews the gaps between the stated policies and the actual perorm-

ance o the relevant institutions. On this backdrop a number o recommendations to

bridge the gaps at both the national and district level are orwarded.

Written by:

Stean Steen, [email protected]

Jakob Christensen, [email protected]

CARE International in Uganda

September, 2011

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Key Findings . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Policy Gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Recommendations . . . . 10

CONTENT


3/12

3

Ugandas private orests make up around 70 % (2.5million ha) o the countrys total orest cover, but

they are declining rapidly, and estimates based upon

the most recent biomass study (2008) suggest that

within 20 years, orests outside o protected areas will

be almost extinct. Private natural orests play a major

role in the lives o the Ugandan people. The vast ma-

jority o Ugandans rely on woody biomass or domes-

tic energy consumption, and the orests are or many

the only source o products such as timber, poles,

medicinal herbs and other non-timber products. In

addition, they provide important saety-nets or many

households at times when ood and resources are

scarce. The orests also perorm vital ecological unc-

tions and are vital or providing important ecosystem

services by regulating global and local climatic condi-

tions and acting as a carbon sink.

Degradation and extinction threaten Ugandas private

natural orests and they are increasingly being con-

verted to settlements and armland or ood and cash

crops. The most immediate impacts o deorestation

occur at the local level and threaten the integrity andsustainability o this vital natural resource. The cur-

rent and potential impacts include increased oods,

changing and unpredictable seasons, uctuation in

water ow, soil erosion, shortage o medicinal herbs

together with building and crats materials, loss o

biodiversity, decline in water quantity and quality and

reduced ground water recharge.

The district o Kibaale in Western Uganda serves as a

good example o the national scenario; the districts

orests are under immense pressure and despite

well-crated regulations and policies, the district lost

approximately hal o its orest cover rom 1990-2005

and at the current level o deorestation the orests

will be depleted in the near uture. As it is indicated

below, this is a view shared by the majority o the 102

villagers in Kibaale district interviewed during this

study. More than 70 % believe that the private natural

orests will be completely depleted in 5 years in their

locality.

IntROduCtIOn

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Itwillbecompletelygone

:herewillbesomele>

Itwillaboutthesame

Itwillincrease

Don'tknow

!"#$%&'#()*#+*,-%*),.,/)*#+*,-%*0"12.,%*(.,/".3*+#"%),)*1(*4*5%.")**


4/12

4

A vast majority o Ugandas biodiversity is ound

in orests in the Albertine Rit Valley, which some

o Kibaales orests are a part o. The Albertine Rit

Valley is globally acknowledged as a major center o

diversity and endemic species and ranks rst out o

the 119 distinct terrestrial eco-regions o continental

Arica in terms o endemic species o birds, mam-

mals, reptiles and amphibians and second in terms

o globally threatened species. The private orest

areas in the Albertine Rit Valley have important

conservation values; not just on their species con-

tent, but because they provide linkages or corridors

between other larger orests, allowing connectivity

which is important or species dispersal and gene

ow between larger orests. The massive deoresta-tion in Kibaale does, however, threaten the existence

o this corridor. Should the corridor collapse, it could

have dramatic consequences or the ora and auna

o the Albertine Rit Valley.

The purpose o this brie is to highlight the key

drivers behind the private natural deorestation in

Uganda and on this basis provide recommendations

or urther action to minimize the deorestation. The

ndings are based on a broad consultation process

and in-depth eld work in Kibaale district. Dur-

ing the study, 35 key inormants have been inter-

viewed and 102 household interviews conducted.

The household interviews were undertaken in our

villages in dierent sub-counties. The sub-counties

have dierent geographical, environmental and

agricultural eatures and the study thereore serves

as a good representation or much o the rural lie

in not only Kibaale but most o Uganda. The key

inormant interviews conducted includes LC1, LC3

and LC5 chairpersons, district and ministerial public

ofcials, representatives rom the Bunyoro Kingdom

and WWF, and Dr. Nelson Turyahabwe rom Makerere

University.

Policy Framework or Management o

Private Natural ForestsSeveral strides have been made to provide a rame-

work or sustainable management o private natural

orests in Uganda. Ater a turbulent reorm period dur-

ing the 1990s, the responsibilities or the orest sector

were nally settled in 2003 with the National Forestry

and Tree Planting Act based on the Uganda Forestry

Policy o 2001 and the National Forest Plan o 2002.

The Uganda Forestry Policy rom 2001 stated thatThe development and sustainable management o

natural orests on private land will be promoted.

In order to reach this goal, and halt the rapid de-

orestation experienced in the 1990s, a number o

strategies were crated. Among others, to encourage

private orest owners to set aside private orests as

permanent orest land, to support the capacities o

individuals and user groups to manage the private

natural orests sustainably, and provide advice and

assistance. A national Tree Fund was also envisioned

to promote and support commercial and non-com-

mercial tree planting and growing at local and na-

tional level. Furthermore, agroorestry was intended

to be a strategic enterprise as a means o poverty

reduction, halting environmental degradation, and

improving agricultural output.

The main responsibilities o implementing the poli-cies belong to the ollowing three actors:

The Forestry Sector Support Department (FSSD)

is, on behal o the Ministry o Water and Environ-

ment, mandated to (a) inspect, monitor and co-

ordinate central government initiatives and policies

in the districts, (b) co-ordinate and advise persons

and organizations in relation to orest projects, and

(c) provide technical advice, support, supervision

and training to local governments to enable them

to carry out the delivery o orestry services. Further-

more, the FSSD is the only mandated organization

to give out licenses or timber harvesting based on

the inormation received rom the District Forestry

Services (DFS).

The District Forestry Services are working in

each district on behal o the district to (a) promote

orestry awareness, (b) promote the planting o

trees, (c) assist in the development and provision o

advisory services relating to private orests, and (d)

ensure that any person willully destroying any orest

resources in contravention o the orestry laws isprosecuted.

The National Agricultural Advisory Services

(NAADS) main mission is to increase armers access

to inormation, knowledge and technology or prot-

able production. However, the National Forest Plan

also stipulates that NAADS should work together with

the DFS in providing extension services to private

orest owners; that is, to (a) build the capacity o arm-

ers to demand and use appropriate orestry advisory

services, (b) support the management o privateorests, and (c) support and develop agroorestry.


5/12

5

There are, however, a ew weak spots in the leg-

islation, because the use o the private orests is

completely up to the owner o it, and the orests are

thereore subject to the whims o the owner. The

owner is thus ree to do whatever he pleases with his

trees. Furthermore, the laws encourage private orest

owners to register their orests in the districts, but it

is not required and thus occurs rarely.

A review o the policy ramework or the private

orestry sector thus reveals a well-crated system, in-

tended to promote sustainable orestry and institu-

tions that should work together to provide support,

advice and training to private orest owners.


6/12

6

T he drivers behind degradation o private naturalorests can be divided in two groups, proximateand underlying causes. Proximate causes are humanactivities (land uses) directly eecting the environ-

ment resulting in conversion o private natural

orests to other types o land use. The underly-

ing actors transpire at the institutional level, and

constitute the underlying reasons or the proximate

causes. That is, the complex social, political and

economic actors that shape the conditions under

which human-environmental relations o structural

character take place. The ollowing presents the driv-

ers o deorestation identied at both o these levels.

The Proximate LevelFarming constitutes the only livelihood option or

90% o Kibaales population, which creates a high

demand or armland. Conversion o orests into

armland is thereore the main proximate cause o

deorestation in Kibaale. The demand or land is

urther exacerbated by Kibaales population growth

rate which ranks among the highest in Uganda with

an alarming population increase o 5.9% annu-

ally, which causes Kibaales population to double

approximately every 12 years. The search or new

armland pressures people to move to hitherto

untouched orested areas and clear the trees and

shrubs or arming. Moreover, land owners who hold

sufciently land to eed their amilies are still prone

to clear the remaining orests in search o improve-

ments in livelihoods. The villagers o Kibaale are

oten very poor, and their only avenue o additional

income is expansion o arming activities, and

hereby producing a surplus o products to be sold.

The individual armers have little economic incentive

or conserving their orests, because conservation

oers ew tangible benets, whereas conversion toarmland or plantations oers almost immediate

benets. Without incentives armers are prone to

continue the deorestation.

Another actor that accelerates the rate o deor-

estation is poor arming techniques. The villagers in

Kibaale are oten poorly trained in the use o mod-

ern arming techniques. They are e.g. most oten

unaware o the proper ways o spacing their crops

to boost the outtake, the need or crop rotation,

the benets o letting the soil rest (allow), and the

negative consequences o burning trees and shrubs

to add soil ertility. In addition, the use o ertilizers is

almost unheard o. The arming techniques presently

employed cause the soil to get exhausted within ew

years, and armers thereore have to go to the orests

in search o new armland. With proper arming tech-

niques in place, armers would be able to increasetheir output considerably, which could reduce the

pressure on the orests.

Access to markets, expansion o inrastructure, and

the introduction o power-tools (e.g. chainsaws) are

oten mentioned as main drivers o deorestation. In

Kibaale these are, however, not signicant drivers in

themselves; rather, when available, they merely ac-

celerate the pace o the deorestation. I there were

no new markets, inrastructure expansion, or power-

tools the villagers would instead burn the trees or

leave them to rot to make way or new armland. This

is a wasteul practice because the trees otherwise

could have been used or rewood, poles, charcoal,

or timber.

The Institutional LevelThe drivers o deorestation at the institutional level

revolves around three general and intertwined prob-

lems; namely, a lack o priority o the orestry sector,

severe underunding and understafng, and political

intererence and corruption.

Lack o PriorityEven though the private orests constitute 70% o

Ugandas orests, the private orestry sector is o little

priority to the central government. This lack o prioriti-

zation permeates the political system at both govern-

ment and district-level. A token o this is the lacking

political commitment to implement and enorce poli-

cies concerning the private natural orests which is

e.g. the case with the Tree Fund that was established

with the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act o

2003, but so ar has not been operationalized.

An oten unnoticed side-eect o the lacking com-mitment is the widespread apathy imbuing the sta-

members working with orestry matters at all levels,

because they eel they are ghting a losing battle,

and the leaders are ignoring and sometimes working

against them.

Underunding and UnderstafngThe most apparent indicator o the lacking priority

among the governing bodies in the central and local

governments is the inadequate nances allocated

or the orestry institutions overseeing the orests

on private lands; namely the DFS and FSSD. As a

consequence, both organizations are understaed

and lack means o transportation. Both the DFS and

KEY FIndIngs


7/12

7

FSSDs budgets and stafng are considered extremely

inadequate to ulll their mandates. Kibaales DFS

employs only three people and has one motorcyclewith limited uel, whereas the FSSD employs 12 tech-

nical sta and eight eld sta without any means

o transportation. When budgets are made or

Ugandas many sectors, the orestry sector is consist-

ently among those who receive less. This nancial

year, the Natural Resource Department, which DFS

is a part o, is budgeted to receive USH149 million,

amounting to 0.59 % o Kibaale districts budget

this is a decrease o USH5.7 million compared to last

nancial year. In comparison, the agricultural sector

(production) received more than 20 times as much

amounting to 12.6 %. The chart below illustrates the

low priority o natural resources in Kibaale districts

budget. Last nancial year the DFS generated

USH295 million rom Kibaales private orests rom

permits and licenses, but received less than USH20million (6.7 %) in return, to be shared with the rest o

the Natural Resource Department. This is in spite o

an adopted policy in Kibaale stating that 20% o the

revenues gathered should be returned to the DFS,

but due to lacking commitment in the budgetary

process, it has never been implemented. The FSSD

was budgeted to receive USH160 million in the last

nancial year o which it only received around hal.

The FSSD estimates that it would need a one-o

payment o USH5.4 billion and a signicant boost o

its annual allowances the coming nancial years to

get ully operational.

Political Intererence and CorruptionUgandas orests constitute a great treasury or

Ugandas politicians and are thereore the object

o much political attention and intererence. The

political intererence works in both ormal and

inormal ways. The ormal intererence is particularly

outspoken in regards to the allocation o unds or

the orestry sector - especially to the DFS. The LC5

council members are not implementing their own

policies when it comes to the budget allocation. The

money allocated to the orestry sector also suers

rom inormal political intererence, and substantial

amounts o money tend to evaporate on their way

through the political system. This maniests itsel in

the FSSDs nancial capabilities, the larger part o the

yearly allocated budget usually disappears despite

being accounted or due to corruption by big peo-

ple in the top o the system. Obviously, this places

severe constraints on FSSDs ability to carry out its

many responsibilities.

1There are also a ew volunteering orest rangers who may have motorcycles, but they are outside o the local government structures.


8/12

8

The political ramework or the management othe orests vis--vis the problems inherent inthe orestry sector create a gap between the statedpolicies and the actual perormance o the relevant

institutions.

Due to nancial constraints, political intererence

and understafng, the FSSD struggles to carry out its

many unctions.

The lack of sta and means of transportation

render it difcult to reach the dierent districts to

inspect and oer advice and training.

Even though FSSD acts as an extension of the Min-

istry o Water and Environment, it is equipped with

very limited means o sanction. A glaring example o

this is that the FSSD has only endorsed one license

or timber harvesting or the whole o Uganda, eec-

tively making all activities by pit sawyers on private

land illegal. Most pit sawyers are, however, in posses-

sion o licenses issued at district-level without FSSDs

consent. Consequently, tree cutting is being licensed

by DFS without the proper checks and balances that

only the FSSD is capable o oering.

FSSD is mandated to take action against irregulari-

ties, but even though the FSSD is aware o miscon-

ducts taking place in the districts, it has neither the

authority, nor the means to take action against it.

In case o misconduct, the FSSD does not have any

sanctioning powers because FSSD has not been

equipped with the required authority and budget.

FSSDs authority is urthermore undermined because

the DFS sta is employed and paid by and report to

the District Chie Administrative Ofcers. The DFS is

thereore not being held accountable because theFSSD has no means o monitoring and sanctioning

misconduct.

The lacking interest and underunding entail that

the DFS is not supporting the private orest owners

to manage their orests sustainably and struggles to

provide them with training and assistance.

Kibaale enjoys high revenues from the private

orests, collected by the DFS, but has been hesitant

in reinvesting them in the DFS to provide or sustain-

able management o the private natural orests.

The limited budget and the lacking sta and trans-

portation severely restrict the DFS ability to provide

extension services and it is thereore not providingadequate training and sensitization to the private

orest owners.

The district has prioritized reforestation, but the

procedure is without proper structures or supplying

land owners with tree-seedlings through the lower

local government system. Thereore, only ew land

owners receive tree-seedlings, and those who do are

oered little or no training resulting in a low survival

rate o seedlings.

There is limited knowledge about the need to con-

serve the biodiversity among the rural population in

the district. The WWF-unded programme Conserva-

tion o Biodiversity in the Albertine Rit Forests o

Uganda has increased the knowledge in some sub-

counties, but the larger part is still unaware o the

importance o bio-diversity. The unawareness result

in reluctance to plant indigenous tree species that

support biodiversity but have less commercial value

or the land owners.

NAADS is well-unded and well-staed compared tothe FSSD and the DFS, but is not ocusing on orestry

matters.

In Kibaale, NAADS has a budget of USH60-80 mil-

lion and employs one coordinator, one sta member

working with livestock, and one working with crops

in each sub-county. The sta is, however, not work-

ing with orestry and is mainly educated in agricul-

ture without training in orestry and agroorestry.

Despite reports of favoritism and corruption,NAADS has an impact on some armers by sup-

porting them with training and crops or livestock.

NAADS is, however, ocusing primarily on agricultur-

al expansion and commercialization without empha-

sis on biodiversity and sustainable orestry manage-

ment. NAADS work on a demand-driven basis which

means that the armers themselves choose which

enterprises they want, but without training and sen-

sitization in sustainable orestry the armers tend to

choose the seemingly most protable. Agroorestry

is thereore extremely rare. Consequently, the orests

are oten cleared to plant crops such as maize, rice,and beans provided by NAADS.

POLICY gaPs


9/12

9

The central government seems to have adopted the

attitude that population growth is a problem that

will and should solve itsel, and thereore politicalaction is unnecessary. Despite having a well-crated

policy ramework or dealing with population

growth, there is little interest in unding the imple-

menting institutions.

The Population Secretariat, which is responsible

or sensitizing and campaigning against population

growth, has very limited unding. It only receives

enough unds rom the central government to cover

wages and has to rely on donors or unding activi-

ties. It is thereore struggling to make an impact.

Family planning is not reaching the greater part of

the population, and when eorts o amily planning

are being made, the contraceptives dispersed havea reputation among the women interviewed at the

household level o causing multiple side-eects,

which causes women to rerain rom using them.

It is dicult to legislate against how many chil-

dren a amily should have, because this is a personal

choice. Consequently, what is needed is a change

in parents attitudes towards amily sizes, but this is

hampered by the central governments lacking com-

mitment to reduce the population growth.


10/12

This policy brie has been prepared to bring to theattention o leaders and development partnersrecommendations that can help conserve Ugandasremaining private natural orests. This is or the ben-

et o both the humans living in their vicinities and

the global community, who relies on their critical

ecological unctions, together with the ragile ora

and auna the orests host.

I evasive action is not taken immediately, districts

like Kibaale will soon ace extinction o their private

natural orests and exhaustion o their armland.

Such a development will orce uture generations to

migrate to new districts where they will soon ace

the same problems. A development that i things

are not changed will probably continue until there

are no private natural orests let in Uganda.

To the Central Governmenta. Investment in natural resources and sustainable

orestry should be encouraged.

Districts should be encouraged to invest in natural

resource management and sustainable orestry.

This is currently being hampered because natural

resource management is not a priority area in the

National Development Plan which is the ounda-

tion or the districts distribution o unds. Anothersource o unding could come rom operationalizing

the Tree Fund which could be a sustainable source

o unds or planting and growing indigenous trees.

The Tree und should be operationalized according

to the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act as ast

as possible.

b. Commit to a orestry sector with strong, well-

unded, and well-staed local and central organi-

zations.

The policy ramework or sustainable private

natural orestry in Uganda is well-crated but is notimplemented due to little interest, low budgets

and under-stafng. The current policies should be

implemented and the orestry organizations at local

and central level strengthened. Political will and

a substantial increase in unding or the sector is

needed to implement the policies.

c. Make a thorough review o the institutional

setup.

The institutional landscape in Ugandas orest sector

is vast and conusing which causes unnecessary

uncertainty about responsibilities. Eorts should be

made to strengthen the lines o command so that

it is clear who is responsible or what. In addition,

it should be considered i some o the institutions

could benet rom being merged or working closely

together. E.g. NAADS and FSSD work with two

important and immensely interlinked areas but theywork completely autonomously o each other and

sometimes undermine each others eorts. I they

worked closer together, FSSDs knowledge about or-

estry could be put together with NAADS knowledge

about agriculture to provide a strong partnership

capable o grasping the crosscutting and interlinked

problems that deorestation presents in a collec-

tive eort. This could among other things -help to

develop agricultural practices with less destructive

impact on the orests.

d. Consider re-centralizing DFS.

The DFS is supposed to be supervised by the FSSD,

but because it is employed, paid, and supervised by

the districts, it has its allegiances there. In order to in-

crease the monitoring and supervision o the DFS by

the FSSD, a possibility could be to recentralize DFS

to be under FSSD. DFOs who are paid and monitored

by the FSSD may be more able to stay clear o local

political intererence. Such a decision should not be

taken lightly, but be based on a thorough review o

the orestry sector. The health sector has made con-

siderable improvement by a similar maneuver.

e. Take action against corruption and politicalintererence.

At the current level o corruption and inormal politi-

cal intererence, even a well-unded orestry sector

would be unable to preclude preventable deoresta-

tion due to the ailure o government institutions

to unction eectively. Misconduct and corruption

in the orestry sector should be investigated by

the Inspector General o Government. Civil society

watchdogs could be o assistance to the investiga-

tion. I not addressed, the misconducts may obstruct

any headway made in the orestry sector. Moretransparency and accountability in unds should be

implemented to ensure the allocated unds are not

misused.

. Take evasive action against the population

growth.

Central and local governments should take a rm

stand in the question o population growth. The

Population Secretariat should be better unded and

have political backing rom the government to imple-

ment the policies on population growth. Sensitization

on amily planning should be upscaled and better

methods o birth control should be introduced.

RECOmmEndatIOns

10


11/12

g. Promote sharing o best-practices and knowl-edge sharing.

Meetings between stakeholders at the dierent

government-levels should be promoted to acilitate

sharing o knowledge and enthusiasm about orest

conservation. An annual conerence or manage-

ment o private orests with attendance o all DFOs,

stakeholders and selected private orest owners

could provide a boost in the sharing o knowledge.

The FSSD is already mandated to acilitate this, but

lacks unds.

h. Incentives or promoting and implementing

policies at district-level.The annual national perormances assessment o

local governments budget processes should include

incentives to ensure that policies o orest conser-

vation and sustainable orestry are promoted and

implemented. The perormance level should have

an impact on uture budget allocations. This should

provide incentives or local governments to improve

their perormance.

i. Fast-track the REDD programme.

The REDD programmes economic incentives or or-

est conservation should be implemented as soon aspossible. FSSD estimates that the programme will be

ready or implementation in 2014, but at the current

rate o deorestation that may be too late in some

districts. The process should thereore be acceler-

ated. Support to private orest owners to register their

orests should be provided so that they are ready to

enter the programme. Many armers in Uganda have

been acilitated by e.g. WWF to conserve their orests

in hope o receiving tangible benets which the im-

plementation o the REDD programme could provide.

Because o poverty and a lack o alternative liveli-

hoods the armers are, however, unlikely to conserve

their orests or many years to come without receiving

any incentives. This renders it urgent to implementthe REDD programme as soon as possible.

To the Districtsa. Increase the budget and hire more qualifed

sta or the DFS.

The DFO in Kibaale has a radio programme a ew

Saturdays each month which does have an impact.

But the DFS should be more visible in the district

and organize trainings in better arming methods

and sustainable management o orests. Hiring a

trained orestry ofcial with adequate unding or

activities in each orested sub-county would help to

conduct regular training sessions and support the

private orest owners.

b. Ring-ence revenues rom charcoal and timber

licenses.

In order to nance the increased activities o the

DFS, all or the greater part o the revenues generat-

ed annually rom timber and charcoal licenses could

be ring-enced or orestry activities. I this is not

possible, Kibaales policy o using 20% o the DFS

revenues or natural resource management should

at least be implemented. At present most timber-licenses in Uganda are given without the approval

o the FSSD and are thereore technically illegal. This

should be corrected.

c. Provide sustainable livelihoods options.

Alternative livelihood options such as bee-hives,

agroorestry, and ecotourism should be made avail-

able or private orest owners. I NAADS supported

private orest owners to manage their orests and

were to embark on orest conservation, sustainable

management, and agroorestry, it could make a sig-

nicant impact. In order to implement this, NAADS

should recruit sta-members educated in orestry

and train the current sta in orestry matters.

11


12/12

d. Explore opportunities or eco-tourism.

There are still large patches o orest let with great

biodiversity that has possibilities or ecotourism,but they are disappearing rapidly so swit action is

necessary. Eco-tourism could work as an incentive to

conserve the orests or the adjacent communities.

For instance, in the area around the Muziizi River in

Kibaale there are still orests with rich biodiversity

and a great potential or ecotourism. The DFS should

take a leadership position on this issue with support

rom FSSD. A partnership with NFA and relevant

NGOs, who are working in the area already, could be

ruitul.

To the Civil Societya. More knowledge about private orests should be

generated.

Farmers land use is oten driven by economic incen-

tives. They grow what is most protable. Hence,

or armers to change their land use, they must be

persuaded by economic incentives. This makes it

signicant to understand the return o investments

in agriculture compared to sustainable enterprises.

E.g. what are the returns rom maize, beans, tea, and

pine and eucalyptus plantations compared to enrich-

ment strategies such as herbal medicine, bee hives,and passion ruits? This data could help to promote

enterprises that are benecial or simultaneous

orest conservation and income generation at the

local level. An international perspective should also

be adopted. Civil society should explore good and

bad practices in other countries in order to advocate

or the government to learn rom them. There are

certain countries like Rwanda that have managed

to turn the negative trends o deorestation, and it

should be explored i these countries positive experi-

ences could be helpul or Uganda.b. Civil society should be aggressive and hold the

government accountable.

The government has so ar not been held account-

able or the massive deorestation and the poor per-

ormance o the institutions mandated to deal with

this. Government members and the relevant institu-

tions seem to disclaim their responsibility and blame

everybody else. To ensure that the government and

its institutions live up to their mandated responsibil-

ity civil society should not take part in this blame

game but instead adopt a more aggressive ap-

proach. Certain NGOs like ACODE have already been

successul in targeting individuals in the government

and the institutions and take them to court.

c. Monitor the implementation o the REDD pro-

gramme.

For a successul implementation o the REDD pro-gramme, civil society needs to advocate or a system

that ensures that the economic incentives, which the

programme is built upon, reach the relevant armers,

who are conserving their orest, and reward them

with economic incentives or continuing this work. I

the incentives do not reach the poor rural land own-

ers, the programme is unlikely to acilitate conserva-

tion o the private natural orests.

d. Strengthen and expand private orest owner

organizations.

Registration o private orests currently transpires on

a voluntary basis which has led to very ew regis-

trations. Eorts should be made to acilitate the

registration o a bigger part o the private orests and

hereby mobilize the owners in strong local organiza-

tions that can advocate the interest o orest owners

at both district and government-level. Mobilizing the

private orest owners would also make the imple-

mentation o the REDD programme easier, because

the owners would already have registered their

orests and adopted management plans.

e. Advocate or more ocus on orest conservation

in the International Financial Institutions.A large part o Ugandas budget is nanced by the

International Financial Institutions, the IMF and the

World Bank. The donations are seldom unconditional

and the International Financial Institutions thereore

play an indirect role on the priorities o Ugandas

government. This causes certain problems or the

orest sector, because orest conservation is not one

o the top priorities o the nancing institutions.

Ugandas government annually sets ceilings or how

much money can be invested into the dierent sec-

tors according to the priorities. I budgets exceedthese ceilings, economic sanctions are likely to occur.

There is a perceived inuence by the international

nancing institutions in the process o setting these

priorities. Although this inuence cannot be proved

it is widely believed that the International Financial

Institutions do support and encourage this policy.

As a result o the budget ceilings, government and

district spending on the orest sector has been

curtailed. A negative consequence o this is that the

government and districts will rerain rom chan-

neling extra money into the orest sector because it

is not a priority. Civil society should thereore gaindeeper insight in the process o setting these ceilings

and advocate or raising or removing them so that

more money can be invested in the orestry sector.

12

opgave spreads

Documents