Gov’t must tackle fuel crisis to save tree cover – environmentalists

Environment activists have tasked the government to urgently promote the use of clean energy and solve the fuel crisis debacle in order to contain the rampant deforestation.
The environmentalists warn that the country is heading for disaster because the poverty rates are high in rural areas and locals cannot afford clean energy for cooking.

Mr Andrew Anapito, the head of communication at Action Aid Uganda, attributed continuous deforestation to inadequate knowledge about the importance of environmental conservation.
“Most of the local communities in rural Uganda rely on energies such as firewood and charcoal for cooking and as they do so, they cut down trees massively without replacing them. This has affected our environment by causing changes in weather patterns,” Mr Anapito said in an interview with this publication during the launch of tree planting in Kumi District in eastern Uganda.

Mr Anapito urged the government to work closely with the private sector to sensitise the public on the importance of tree planting and environmental conservation as well as enforcing laws against deforestation.
According to Mr Moses Opio, the Kumi District natural resources officer, although the interventions have been made to curb the deforestation crisis in the district, population growth in the area has frustrated progress.

“Most of our interventions are watered down by the population pressure with little resources. The district has a forest cover of less than 15 percent with a total population of 23, 9268, according to UBOS 2014 statistics. Every mother has on average six children and as a result, wetlands and forests have been encroached on for survival,” he says.
 He advised the public to practice family planning and urged the government to increase funds to facilitate the use of energy-saving stoves which can help to mitigate the problem of climate change.

He said although the president banned the burning of charcoal in some parts of the country, the activity still exists in Kumi district. He therefore advised the government to hike the prices of firewood and charcoal and reduce on clean energy so that people can shift.
 
How does deforestation affect learners?
While speaking at the environment schools debate at Kumi District last Friday, Ms Shanitah Kagoya, a primary six pupil at Adesso Primary School, said deforestation has not only put the country on the brink of climate crisis but has also affected their academics and tourism.

“We used to go to rivers and lakes for tourism but right now I heard that even some lakes are getting dry,” she said, adding: “Everyone used to admire going to Mabira Forest, but right now when I tell my fellow pupils to pay for a trip to Mabira, they don’t want because the trees have been cut down,” she said.
According to her, deforestation has affected the model of teaching because pupils used to learn about trees from the school compound.

In addition, Ms Teddy Apolot, a Primary Six pupil at Atuitui Primary School in the same District, said deforestation has changed the weather pattern, hence affecting her father’s rice farm where he gets money to cater for her school fees and other basic needs.
“There are months my father would grow rice expecting rain falls, but the drought hit our village for about three months hence affecting the rice plantations and this forced me to have a dead year at school due to lack of school fees,” Ms Apolot said.

Background 
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) global forest resources assessment, 2020 deforestation and forest degradation rates have increased rapidly whereby an estimated 420 million hectares of forest were deforested between 1990 and 2020.
In addition, the forest cover shrunk from 45 percent in 1,890 to 24 percent between 1990 and 2005. This has greatly resulted in prolonged drought and erratic rainfalls leading to the loss of many lives and property.