From time to time, Government may issue plans or directives which will directly or indirectly affect the integrity of the country’s forest estate, with specific reference to energy, mining, development plans, annual budget proposals, environment, land, water, wildlife and agricultural research. Loss of forest cover impacts negatively on Uganda’s tourism, agriculture and provision of forest products and services and, therefore, needs to be addressed.
The NDP III takes a programmatic approach. Programme No. 5 deals with “Natural Resources, Environment, Climate Change, Land and Water Management” (National Planning Authority, 2020)[1]. The Programme aims to stop, reduce and reverse environmental degradation and the adverse effects of climate change and variability, as well as improve utilisation of natural resources for sustainable economic growth and livelihood security. Key expected results include, inter alia, improved land use and management and increasing forest and tree cover, restoring bare hills and protecting mountainous areas and rangelands. NDP III plans to, inter alia, strengthen conservation and restoration of forests and water catchments and hilly and mountainous areas through:
(i) Promoting rural and urban plantation development and tree planting including the local and indigenous species;
(ii) Formulating economic and social incentives for plantation forests;
(iii) Promoting application of performance based sustainable forest management criteria for all forest sector development aspects and scale up agroforestry as a climate smart agriculture practice;
(iv) Establishing dedicated fuel wood plantations necessary to contribute to achieving or exceeding net biomass surplus levels;
(v) Ensuring the protection of rangelands and mountain ecosystems;
(vi) Implementing national targets on threatened/endangered species, restoration of natural habitats, management of invasive alien species with support and participation of forest dependent communities and indigenous peoples;
(vii) Identifying and declaring special conservation areas to raise the conservation status of areas outside protected areas that are important biodiversity areas;
(viii) Integrating environmental management in all disaster and refugee response interventions;
(ix) Improving the management of districts and private forests; and
(x) Leveraging technology to strengthen enforcement capacity for improved compliance to standard agro-forestry practices.
NDP III has 69 “Core Projects, and among these is the National Community Tree Planting Project that aims to restore and maintain 102,000 ha of degraded forests, establish 200,000 ha of community woodlots and 6,320 ha of urban forests.
The design and implementation of Vision 2040 emphasizes sustainable development through preservation of natural resources such as forests. Government has pronounced relevant policies and enacted relevant laws, regulations and standards relating to forest resources, but the level of compliance with these is still very low, resulting in misuse and degradation of forestry resources. Forestry resources have been facing rapid deterioration also due to increased pressure from population growth.
Over the period of Vision 2040, efforts will be put on a green economy and clean environment by conserving flora and fauna and restoring and adding value to ecosystems. This will be done through protection of ecosystems, reforestation and afforestation on public land, promoting participation of the population in tree planting on both public and private land, protection of catchments, enhancing private investment in forestry through promotion of commercial tree planting and adoption of green agriculture practices, and generally increasing forest cover from the current 15% to 24%.
Instruction 337: The foregoing narratives clearly indicate systemic convergence and overlap between NDPs and the long term National Vision (currently Vision 2040). Implementation of the provisions for forests in both the 5-year NDPs and Vision 2040 shall be implemented as appropriate, together with the forestry policy by internalising them in the NFP, AWPs, FMPs, and DFDPs.
National Planning Authority, 2020. Third National Development Plan (NDPIII), 2020/21 – 2024/25 ↩︎