Homes takeover as 3 million hectares of forest disappear

Kampala. Mark Otto lives with his family on an isolated area in Rwoti Orono village. He owns two grass-thatched houses, some animals and cultivated fields.
The 40-year-old claims to have inherited at least 30 acres of land from his father who died in 1986.
“We were here before the LRA insurgency and we returned here after the war. I stay here with my wife, brother and 10 children. We grow cassava, rice, sim sim, sorghum,” says Mr Otto, who stays more than 10km away from Apar in Amuru District.
He says; “Apart from rumours, I have never known that this is a forest reserve and considering the years we have been here.”
However, National Forest Authority (NFA) officials say that Mr Otto is one of the hundreds of encroachers on the southern part of Zoka Forest Reserve in Adjumani District. Amuru District borders Adjumani district at the southern part of Zoka Forest Reserve.
Mr Gilbert Kadilo, the NFA manager in charge of communication, says people have encroached on Zoka Forest for settlement, cultivation and extraction of high value timber.
He says that the forest gazette in the 1930s is at the centre of a dispute between NFA and the settlers on one hand, border conflicts between Adjumani and Amuru and post-northern conflict period where former participants in the LRA rebellion decided to settle there.

Illegal activities
Mr Kadilo says a significant portion of the forest has been destroyed as a result of the illegal activities
Zoka forest attracted public attention when a minister said the government was set to dole out the 10,000 hectares to an investor to grow sugarcane and boost the country’s sugar production.
Mr Otto says that he is not aware of the forest boundary just like Mr Philip Bikolwa, who is one of the 128 people that sued NFA over ownership of Kagombe Forest Reserve in Kibaale and Kagadi districts.
Mr Bikolwa claims he and several others acquired the land under controversy from Kibaale District Land Board.
But following the dispute over the boundary, Court in 2013 ordered for a joint boundary opening, an exercise that is nearly complete.
NFA officials say out of the 11,331 hectares of Kagombe Forest, the level of encroachment is 96 percent but prior to the court order in 2013, it was 60 per cent.
In Hoima District, Bugoma Forest Reserve is at the centre of dispute between NFA and the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom Solomon Iguru Gafabusa with the former alleging encroachment and degrading of the forest.
The dispute now pending before the High Court in Masindi arose after the kingdom claimed 8,000 hectares of the forest to establish sugarcane plantation in Nsozi Beat.

In a case filed before the High Court in Masindi, NFA is accusing the king of fraudulent concealment when he stealthily applied for a freehold title on part of the forest which was granted by Uganda Land Commission.

However, Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom officials assert that it is also just a part of the main ancestral land that is estimated to measure about 280sq miles whose title is also under process stretching from the shores of Lake Albert bounded by River Nguse following the national forest reserve and finally river Hohwa back to the Lake Albert shore ground.
NFA officials say that another group claiming to be veterans under Turipona Group had started clearing the forest in the areas of Nyairongo.

Activists say that the disputes on forest emanate from lack of clear boundary marks.
Reports by the Ministry of Water and Environment indicate that Uganda loses about 200,000 hectares of forest cover annually.

A report from NFA reveals that more than three million hectares of forest cover countrywide have been lost in the last 15 years due to illegal activities.
Paul Buyerah Musamali, the NFA director in charge of Corporate Affairs says that the country’s forest cover reduced from 4,933,271 hectares in 1990 to 1,835,147 in 2015.
“Forest degradation has far-reaching cost implications to the economy. For instance when kerosene is substituted for charcoal in urban households, it would result in an increase in the national import bill by $180 million annually. Such an action would also lead to a loss of jobs by poor people involved in wood fuel income-generating activities,” he says.
While presenting at the forests accountability forum 2016 in Kampala, Musamali attributed the high rate of forest degradation to unclear forest boundaries, land leasing, and absence of a national Land use plan.
Other challenges, Mr Musamali says include disregard of environmental laws, lack of integrated approaches to the management of natural resources as forests and lack of a clear policy on ownership and control of private forest resources.
He suggests for restoration of legal and physical integrity, political compliance as well as support and sustains private public partnerships through forestry enterprises.
Acting Executive Director of Panos Eastern Africa, Mr Hassan Mulopa blames the disappearing forest cover to bad politics where politicians support forest destruction for votes.
He says more than 100 forest reserves have been degazzetted due to political interference and political situations in the country.
“If we do not manage our land sustainably, even forest land would not help. The livelihood of people at the grass root is compromised because their lives are based on home supply of food,” adds Mulopa.

What can be done
He warns policy makers and politicians against interfering in forest governance saying the destruction of forest cover would worsen the poverty levels in the country which would affect them too.
Ronald Naluwairo, a Senior Research Fellow in a report by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) says attributes the forest woes to weak legal framework on the forest sector.
He suggests that for improving the Forest Legal Framework by making it illegal to enter a forest reserve without an existing right, or permit or lawful authority and being found within, or in the vicinity of a forest reserve with implements for cutting, taking, working or rendering any forest produce without any lawful excuse.

Other crimes
Other crimes suggested include introduction of exotic genetic material or invasive plants in forest reserves without authority, dumping of solid, liquid, toxic or other waste in forest reserves or being found in possession of forest produce with respect to which an offence was committed.
He says other crimes include cutting, felling, damaging or removing sacred groves found in forest reserves without lawful authority, being or remaining in a forest reserve between the hours of 7p.m. and 6a.m, aiding or abetting commission of a forest crime and attempt to commit a forest crime.
“Government should reduce the discretion of judicial officers in sentencing of the convicts. It should increase penalties to among other things reflect the economic value and seriousness of the forest offence committed,” he adds.
Naluwayiro suggests that the law should provide for rewards to persons and communities that provide information that can lead to successful prosecution of forest crimes.

Statistics

Forest cover loss from 1990 – 2015 (4,933,271 hectares - 1,835,147 hectares)

1990-2005 - 1,330,906
hectares (annual rate 1.80%)

2005-2010 - 1,288,746
hectares (annual rate 7.15%)

2010- 2015 - 478,472
hectares (annual rate 2.51%)

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