Mabira: A forest under encroachment

KAMPALA. Located 54-kilometres on the Kampala-Jinja highway stretches the dense lovely greenery of Mabira Forest, impressing upon the traveller that the beautiful jungle is impenetrable. The refreshing cool breeze that permeates Mabira allows the traveller’s lungs to tap into the fresh oxygen that exudes from the leafy environ.
But inside this beauty are illegal activities that threaten the very existence of the rich natural tropical forest –Mabira Forest.

Investigation by both Daily Monitor and a report by Nature and Livelihoods, a conservation organisation, reveal that several parts of Mabira Forest, 54 kilometres east of Kampala, and 26 kilometres away from Jinja Town, have been degraded. Mabira, which is located in Buikwe District in central Uganda, is a rainforest covering about 300 square kilometres (29,974 hectares).
The forest, which occasioned violent protests in 2007 when government attempted to give part of it to Mehta, a Ugandan-Asian industrialist to grow sugarcane, is now plagued with illegal activities ranging from clearing the land for agriculture to cutting down trees for timber and charcoal burning, among others.

“Illegal tree felling was the most widespread threat and affected trees of all stages …anywhere in the (forest) reserve, including that currently managed as “a strict nature reserve”,” reads part of the report by Nature and Livelihoods.
“The only areas that appeared spared from tree cutting were the immediate vicinities of existing tourism campsites,” the report prepared by Mr William Olupot, the Nature and Livelihoods director, adds.
Other threats according to the report, include discharge of effluent from sugar and leather-tanning industries into the River Musamya, which has caused pollution, besides the unregulated hunting of animals and birds such as the crested crane guinea fowl.

Gazetted in 1932, Mabira Forest has been a target for illegal enrichment for many years. Parts of the forest east of the reserve were illegally settled in 1953.
These early encroachments, as well as those of 1961-71 were easily contained allowing the forest to regenerate, with several parts having young trees.
However, encroachment started again in 1971 to 1985 during which up to 7,000 hectares of the forest was cut down by the encroachers.
Degradation has since taken a foothold again, in Uganda’s largest remaining forest. Mr Olupot attributes the ongoing degradation of the all-important forest cover to the increasing population within the forest and outside, high demand for charcoal and quest for land to till for agriculture.
Mabira Forest is home to immense biodiversity, including rare bird species, insects, medicinal plants and is a core water catchment area for Lake Victoria and River Nile, on which government has constructed two hydropower dams.

The forest also plays an important role in regulating temperature as its dense vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen in return.
The most degraded areas, according to the report, include Bugule and Lugala compartments where a section was cleared to enable a truck collect illegally cut timber and, in Kiwala area where a farmer illegally cleared the forest to grow marijuana.
When this reporter posed as a charcoal buyer, one of the charcoal burners led him to Buwoola and Sanga inside the forest where mounds of charcoal were burning, with each sack of charcoal costing Shs30,000.

“We burn charcoal for a living. We do not have anywhere to go,” one of the encroachers who led us into some of the degraded areas, said.
When contacted, Ms Julie Mubi, who is mandated to manage the forest reserve, referred this reporter to Mr Michael Ojja, the National Forestry Authority (NFA) sector manager in charge of Mabira Forest.
Mr Ojja said despite their concerted efforts to stop the encroachers, it is hard to stop degradation of the forest entirely because Mabira has 22 settlements (enclaves) legally within and the communities can easily move from their homes to the protected areas.

“There are communities doing illegal activities but we have increased our surveillance,” he told Daily Monitor on Monday by telephone.
“We have had boundary challenges but we have now started demarcating them,” Mr Ojja he added.
According to a 2014 Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) report, 90 per cent of Ugandans use biomass (trees) for their fuel needs, ranging from small industries to household use. Such natural resources will continue to face depletion, further escalating the impact of climate change like long drought spells, high temperatures and floods.
The MEMD report indicated that biomass energy demands, especially from trees, may hit 135 million tonnes up from the current 44 million by 2040 and that will further escalate the problem of deforestation for both charcoal and wood.
According to MEMD 2014 report, charcoal use stood at 6 million tonnes, wood used in brick burning at 71,000 tonnes, wood use in tea industry, 270,000 tonnes, wood consumed in lime production, 5,435 tons , wood consumed in prisons, 1,900 tonnes , wood consumed in hospitals and 1.7 million tonnes wood consumed in educational institutions.

With such consumption of biomass, Uganda loses 200,000 hectares of forest coverage annually due to, among other factors, agriculture, infrastructure development, industrialisation and urbanisation, according to the UN food and agriculture latest report.
And that is disastrous for the country according to State minister for Environment, Dr Mary Goretti Kitutu, who says much of Uganda’s rainfall comes from natural resources.
“Forty per cent of our (Uganda)rainfall comes from wetlands and forests and 60 from external influences…protection of wetlands and forests is therefore very important in this Hakuna mchezo agenda,” Dr Kitutu said recently.

Mitigation measures
The report recommends that government set-ups “new tourism camps as soon as possible in the Kiwala area, one of highly degraded areas, to include boat trail along River Sezibwa” that will enable locals get tourism benefits but also increase vigilance, among other measures.

Illegal activities

The forest, which occasioned violent protests in 2007 when government attempted to give part of it to Mehta, a Ugandan-Asian industrialist to grow sugarcane, is now plagued with illegal activities ranging from clearing the land for agriculture to cutting down trees for timber and charcoal burning, among others.

About the forest

Mabira Forest is a rainforest area covering about 300 square kilometres ( about 30,000 hectares) in Uganda, located in Buikwe District, between Lugazi and Jinja. It has been protected as Mabira Forest Reserve since 1932. It is home for many endangered species. In 2007 the Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited, jointly owned by the Government of Uganda and Mehta Group, announced plans to clear one-third of the forest (about 70 square kilometres) for sugarcane plantations. President Museveni and his cabinet supported this plan. However, the deforestation plans were disputed within Uganda. While environmental activists feared the loss of hundreds of endangered species, increased erosion, the damage of livelihoods of local people and negative impacts on water balance and regional climate, supporters hoped for the creation of jobs. A Cabinet paper said the plan would generate 3,500 jobs and contribute about Shs11.5 billion to the treasury.

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