By Hamza Kyeyune
KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) – As the world observes the Environment Day on Saturday, activists in Uganda are drawing attention to the government's move to replace the protected tropical Bugoma Forest with sugarcane fields.
They say these forests stretching over 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of land, which work as lungs for the country's biodiversity, are on the verge of destruction due to sugarcane plantations.
The forest that stretches along the northern tip of the Albertine Rift Valley, which divides Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is home to more than 255 species of birds, 260 species of trees, and 34 species of mammals, including nine on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species.
The government authorized swathes of the tropical forest to be cleared for sugarcane plantation by Hoima Sugar Limited, a Ugandan company.
On Aug. 14, 2020, the National Environmental Management Authority, a government agency responsible for regulating Uganda's natural environment and environmental policy, granted Hoima Sugar Limited permission to use the forest by issuing a certificate of approval for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment report for mixed land use on 21.54 square miles. Along with sugarcane cultivation, the company plans to build schools, a market, a hospital, and an ecotourism center.
Under the Land Act, forest reserves like Bugoma are held in trust for the common good of the people and may not be leased or sold by the government.
Environmental Protection campaigners in Uganda are opposed to the move and have taken the government to court to challenge this decision, which they say is meant to destroy the forest reserve.
Hudhaifa Busuulwa, an environmental activist and PhD fellow at Istanbul's Ibn Haldun University, told Anadolu Agency that Bugoma Forest is the largest remaining block of natural tropical forests along the Albertine rift valley and plays an enormous role in preserving wildlife migration corridors.
He is surprised as to why the government is turning a blind eye to its protection.
Robert Turyakira, another environmental and climate activist, petitioned the Ugandan High Court to join others in saving the Bugoma Forest.
“It appears that the applications in this matter were premised on distorted facts, and the applicants attempted to suppress the true facts in order to make a ‘flowery’ case in the court by exaggerating that the entire forest is being cleared for sugarcane planting,” said Justice Musa Sekaana, head of the high court civil division.
This comes at a time when the East African country has been experiencing a worsening climate, characterized by diminishing forest cover. Current national deforestation rates stand at 2% annually with an average of 122,000 hectares lost every year.
According to Global Forest Watch findings, the Bugoma Forest lost 17% of its forest cover between 2001 and 2020.
The removal of trees and other types of vegetation diminishes available food, shelter, and breeding habitat, deforestation is one of the primary causes of species extinction. As deforestation increases, the number of distinct species of plants and animals decreases.
Wildlife habitats become fragmented, forcing wildlife to migrate in order to survive, and some of them end up in surrounding homes and gardens, leading to increased human and wildlife conflict.
Uganda is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity and REDD+, an international mechanism to mitigate climate change, with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to deforestation and forest degradation.
Busuulwa said it is imperative forests in the country are restored faster than they are degraded by human activities to prevent a catastrophe.
