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Let’s empower our youth to implement sustainable forest management practices
Firewood in a forest. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Notably, the worsening level of deforestation is also attributed to a lack of citizen awareness of the importance of forest covers, and alternative and sustainable sources of income from forests.
Globally, Uganda has one of the highest deforestation rates with a 2.8 percent annual loss in forest cover and its loss is a significant driver of climate change within the country impacting its biodiversity, weather patterns, local climate, agricultural productivity, and general quality of life.
According to Global Forest Watch, 12,263 deforestation alerts were reported in Uganda between April 19, to April 26, covering a total of 151 hectares whereas none of these were high confidence alerts detected by a single system and none were alerts detected by multiple systems.
Despite the strategic ecological importance of forests, they continue to face threats mostly from youth such as illegal logging, land use conflicts, charcoal burning, and many others. This is because youth have not been empowered enough to lead in policy and development processes because they have the potential to make a huge impact in forest conservation efforts and in Uganda host many refugees, it also endangers forests due to the overwhelming need for wood fuel and income generation.
This has led to loss of biodiversity, change in weather patterns, flush floods, prolonged droughts, and loss of food security
However the country has established forest legal and policy frameworks as well as private sector initiatives aimed at curbing deforestation, implementation and enforcement of these laws and policies have remained weak. This is because youth have not been involved in key decisions and development processes as they are the ones mostly involved in charcoal burning, deforestation, corruption with conflicting interests, and conflicting land use priorities which have hindered implementation of these laws.
Notably, the worsening level of deforestation is also attributed to a lack of citizen awareness of the importance of forest covers, and alternative and sustainable sources of income from forests.
As a result, laws, policies, and instrumental agreements such as the European Union-Uganda Forest Partnership of 2022 are not enforced and deforestation levels continue to spike. For instance, some forests such as Bugoma and Zoka forests have been at the center of land allocation conflicts for sugarcane cultivation, the influx of un involvement of youth, refugee hosts, and demand for wood fuel has led to severe degradation and reduced forest cover.
Therefore, addressing this problem necessitates a transformative approach that empowers the local youth, integrates them into conservation efforts, and harnesses their potential to advocate for and implement sustainable forest management practices.
This will not only help in aligning local actions with the broader objectives of the EU- Uganda Forest Partnership and other forest laws and policies but also ensure the long-term preservation and restoration of Forests, maximize efforts to combat climate change challenges, and improve lives in and outside Uganda.
Olive Atuhaire, Research Associate
