1. INTRODUCTION

Uganda is a country with high potential for effective conservation, sound sustainable natural forest management and viable timber plantations. It has great potential for sustained economic growth. Despite her small size of only 0.02% of the world’s total dry land area, Uganda has over 11% and 7% of the known world’s total of species of birds and mammals respectively. It is not surprising therefore, that she was referred to as the "pearl of Africa" by Sir Winston Churchill at the start of the century. The translation of this potential into reality has been curtailed by several factors. The major factor has been bad governance and politics of the last 30 years that has led to the destruction of people, infrastructure and the economy. Consequently, Ugandans have experienced poverty, low levels of human development and environmental degradation resulting in the country being one of the poorest in the world. Today, about 46% of Uganda’s population live below the poverty line.

The greatest challenge for the government in Uganda today is how to address the issue of poverty. It is the vision of all Ugandans to restore the ‘pearl of Africa’ to its former glory. Through a wide consultative process, Ugandans from all walks of life agreed on a collective vision for the country. The vision for Uganda for the 21^st century is that of "a prosperous people, harmonious nation and beautiful country" (MFPED, 2000; Vision, 2025). Uganda’s Vision 2025 will provide a planning framework for the country for the next 25 years.

Uganda depends heavily on subsistence agriculture as the main source of livelihood. Agriculture is sustained by about 85% of the population who are rural based. The agricultural sector is largely undeveloped characterised by family labour, rudimentary technology, poor crop husbandry, lack of improved seed, lack of pesticides, lack of fertilisers, a land use policy and with a low rate of land use. It is against such a background that the role of forestry in the development of Uganda is considered as crucial in the eradication of poverty.

The Uganda Forest Policy states the country’s forestry sector vision as: a sufficiently forested, ecologically stable and economically prosperous Uganda. A national forestry program is being developed to ensure the conservation, management and sustainable development of the forests to meet local, national, regional and global needs and requirements for the benefit of present and future generations. Although there has been a long period of upheaval and considerable damage to some forests, there is still a solid ecological basis from which sustainable forestry can operate. It is part of Uganda’s development strategy that forest resources play a full part in development to maximise the positive impact on poverty.

The Natural Forests

Uganda’s forests fall into two major categories namely the natural forests and the plantations. Natural forests supply the bulk of forest products but plantations are gaining prominence. High Forests in Uganda were in the past degraded so much such that only 100,000 to 200,000 ha can be considered as ‘productive’ forest. It is estimated that of this only 50,000 ha are exploitable. The rest is so degraded that it will have to be protected for at least another 20 years. In 1995, the Forest Department estimated that an annual allowable cut of about 200,000 cubic meters would be yielded from natural forest reserves in the next 15 years (Forest Department, 1995). In 1995, it was estimated that an annual allowable cut of about 100,000 cubic meters of wood would be yielded from public and private forests within the next 15 years (Forest Department, 1995).

At the beginning of the century, the tropical high forests (THF) under government ownership covered about 3,090,000 ha or 12.7% of the country. Current estimates indicate that the THF estate under government ownership has now been reduced to 730,000 ha or 3.6% of Uganda’s land area (Forest Department, 1999). Current predictions estimate that if allowed to continue at the present rate, wetlands and open water areas will be reduced to 4,500 km² and 36,900 km² respectively by the year 2006 (Forest Department, 1996). Deforestation in Uganda has mainly been due to a rapid increase of a population with no other economic options coupled with breakdown of law and order during the turbulent years of the 1980s. During that time, forest reserves were cleared indiscriminately.

Forest Plantations

The existing forest plantations were established in the 1960 and 70s. They are in a poor state. Data on their productivity is scanty. In 1995, it was estimated that an annual allowable cut of about 150,000 cubic meters was expected from the forest plantations for the next 15 years (Forest Department, 1995).

Despite a favourable climate and soils, Uganda has only a limited area of timber plantations, mainly pine and cypress. These are mostly mature or semi-mature but years of neglect have led to fire damage. Lack of pruning and thinning has reduced the potential value for high quality timber. Industrial forest plantations in Uganda consist of softwood or conifer and hardwood plantations. They cover about 345 km² of which the majority is planted with softwoods. Government owned plantation forests are estimated at 240 km² making up only 2.2% of gazetted forests. The main objective of the plantation establishment is to provide raw material to forest industries in the form of saw logs and or pulpwood (Falkenberg et al, 2000).

Most of the hardwood plantations (eucalyptus) are in peri-urban areas for the purpose of supplying mainly fuel-wood and poles to urban enterprises. The Forest Department owns about 900 hectares of these plantations while about 1,000 hectares belong to the private sector but is on reserved land.

The private sector, especially tea and tobacco processing companies has also established plantations. Private woodlots are also scattered all over the country. These private wood lots and plantations are estimated to cover an area of about 13,000 ha (NORAD, 1999).

Threats to the Forest Estate

In the last 100 years Uganda’s forests have faced severe pressures mainly from agricultural conversion as a result of population increase, urban demand for charcoal, over grazing, uncontrolled timber harvesting and policy failures. The forestry cover has shrunk from 45% in 1890 to the present 20.3 % of the total land area in Uganda. Currently, the rate of deforestation is estimated to be about 1% per annum (Kigenyi, 1995). The annual cost of deforestation in Uganda has been conservatively estimated at US$ 3.8 –5.7 million per year (Falkenberg et al, 2000). Currently, deforestation is minimal on gazetted forest reserves, it is mostly occurring on privately owned or ungazetted public forests. Military warfare in Uganda has contributed much to deforestation. Uganda has had a turbulent history and sometimes guerrilla groups launch their attacks from forests and woodlands. This has led to poor management of forests and in the past, clearance of some forest in search of rebels. Today rebels have occupied Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda since 1997. This has prevented any meaningful conservation activity indeed in December 1999 UNESCO added this site to its list of world heritage sites in danger.

Economic Contribution of the Forest Sector to Gross Domestic Product

In Uganda, the value of forestry in terms of its contribution to the national welfare or even gross domestic product (GDP) is very difficult to estimate. This is due to lack of adequate data on its output and services. Environmental services at the moment are difficult to estimate in monetary terms. It is therefore not surprising that different figures have been used over the years to reflect the contribution of the forestry sector in Uganda to GDP. The Ministry of Finance has been estimating it to be about 2% for the last 10 years while the Forest Department put is at about 6%. These figures exclude the environmental services, which have not been quantified. The actual percentage contribution of the forest sector and other primary sectors to GDP is expected to decrease as that of other sectors increases. This is in line with economic development in the country.

Environmental Services

Probably the greatest contribution of the forest sector to the economy of Uganda is the environmental services it provides in terms of climate regulation, soil conservation, and protection of biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Unfortunately, these services are not quantified. The forests of Mt Elgon, Rwenzori, Bwindi and Mgahinga have substantial values as watershed areas and reservoirs for unique biodiversity.

The exploitation of the environmental services of forestry is to be enhanced by the active promotion of farm forestry as proposed in the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA). Farm forestry is to be used, as the means for improving soil productivity and for it’s multiple socio-economic benefits in almost all the farming systems in the country. Agriculture, as already, mentioned is the backbone of Uganda’s economy.

Social Functions of Forestry in Uganda

The forestry sector plays a significant role in the lives of Ugandans in the following areas:

Employment: The forestry sector offers significant employment. Rough estimates put the current annual turnover of business in forestry at close to Ush 297 billion with the non-monetary value accounting for 30% of this.

Raw materials for Construction and Furniture Making and Energy: The forestry sector provides energy and raw materials for the construction and furniture making industries. Over 90% of the national energy demand is from firewood and charcoal. While about 400,000 cubic meters per year is used in the construction industry and for furniture making (Claus-Michael, 2000).

Food Security, Cultural and Spiritual Values: The rural population in Uganda depends on forests for food security, agricultural productivity and cultural and spiritual values that depend on trees and environmental services from trees. Forests are a major source of medicinal plants, which are mostly used by the rural population (about 90%).

Institutional set up of the Forestry Sector.

The constitution of Uganda (1995) vests the responsibility for managing Uganda’s gazetted forest resources in the government but at different levels and in different agencies. The key agencies are Forest Department, Uganda Wild life Authority and local government (District Councils). All other partners support, collaborate and complement the efforts of the government in providing financial and technical support, human resource development or training materials and publicity. The role of each agency has been elaborated upon in Chapter 5.

The key agency for forestry research is the National Agricultural Organization (NARO) through the Forest Research Institute (FORI). Other government departments that are involved in forest research are the Forest Department (FD), Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and the Universities of Makerere and Mbarara. A number of NGOs are also involved such as ICRAF.

The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is responsible for the overall economic planning of the country and therefore has a direct role in ensuring that forest matters are included in the national planning and allocation of resources. It also coordinates all external financial input to any planning or implementation of forest related activities, which is meant to assist in the government.