Uganda is a landlocked country with an estimated population of 34.9 million who are predominantly rural. Growing at more than 3.7 percent in 2018, Uganda currently has the fourth-highest population growth rate in the world. Uganda’s population has more than tripled in the past 40 years, from 9.5 million in 1969, and it is predicted to reach 47.4 million by 2025. This high rate of population growth puts pressure on the natural resources, which drives the expansion of agriculture into marginal lands and forested lands.

Key achievements from 2016 to 2018

• joint technical assistance for the development of Uganda’s Forestry Investment Program, successfully endorsed by the Climate Investment Funds in June 2017, in partnership with the World Bank;
• feasibility assessment of the operationalization of the national Tree Fund, as a potential major source of funding for bringing restoration at scale in the country, including a study tour with FONERWA, Rwanda’s Green Fund;
• facilitation of two landscape-level pilot platforms for collaboration, exchange of information and consolidation of data for enhanced monitoring and coordination;
• initiation of a national menu of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) goals, indicators, and monitoring framework to assist in monitoring of FLR programmes implemented by various practitioners in Uganda;
• support to the Ministry of Water and Environment in establishing mechanisms to coordinate forestry and restoration programs, through a consolidated database of projects and programs and the operationalization of the One Stop Data Centre as a hub for consolidation and analysis of FLR related data; and
• participation of 10 private sector members and government staff to the Forest and Landscape Investment Forum held in Kigali, Rwanda, in May 2017.