FOREST CERTIFICATION IN UGANDA

1. FOREST CERTIFICATION IN UGANDA Polycarp M. Mwima, Gombya Ssembajjwe, Gerald Eilu, Muhamad Bukenya

2. BACKGROUND • The geographical position range of altitude, and closeness to major lakes give Uganda a diversity of climatic conditions. • With Rainfall for most of the country 1000-1500mm, coupled with the fact that it lies in a zone of overlap between six of Africa’s main vegetation regions makes Uganda a diverse country in terms of Biodiversity and Ecology.

3. FORESTS AND WOODLANDS • Forests and woodlands in Uganda cover approximately 4.9 million hectares, which is about 24% of the total land area. • Uganda has a large number of protected areas (PAs) that together cover about 13% of the country. • About 1.9 million hectares of the PAs forms the Permanent Forest Estate (PFE).

4. NFA 15% UWA 15% Private 70% Figure 3 Management of Uganda's Forest Land FOREST SECTOR IN UGANDA • 30% of the forests lie in the Protected areas, constituting the PFE as follows

6. FOREST MANAGEMENT • The PFE represents about 9% of the total land area of Uganda. • The National Forest Authority (NFA) is in charge of the country’s Central Forest reserves and Plantations • The NFA is aimed at supporting a vigorous private sector, and a more effective forest administration in line with the processes of decentralization & privatization.

7. FOREST MANAGEMENT • Under the NFA jurisdiction, there are seven major closed Central Forest Reserves totaling about 2,300 km2 in area • There is another 704 smaller Forest Reserves ranging in size from 0.3-500 km2, many of which are in Savanna areas

8. FOREST MANAGEMENT • The Uganda Wildlife Authority’s (UWA) mission is to conserve and sustainably manage wildlife resources and biodiversity inside and outside Protected Areas under its juridiction for the benefit of the present and future generations of Ugandans and the global community. • Under UWA, National parks cover 4,6% of the country, Wildlife reserves 3.6%, Wildlife sactuaries 0.35% and Community wildlife areas 11.4%

9. FOREST MANAGEMENT • Six Central Forest Reserves were upgraded to National parks in early 1990s because of their environmental and ecological importance. • The Forest Inspection Division (FID) mission is to effectively co-ordinate, guide and supervise Uganda’s forest sector, and contribute to the rational and sustainable utilization, development, effective management, safeguard of forest resources, for social welfare and economic development.

10. MARKETS • Uganda banned exportation of timber because forest department inventories indicated there was not enough timber to export and sustainably manage the forests. • Uganda however exports forest products, about 113 Metric tones of sawn wood worth US $ 38,000 • The Forest sector in Uganda earns over 600 million Ugandan shillings a year and the value of None wood forest products though not well captured in the national economic picture, is estimated be 66 billion per year

11. LAND TENURE • Customary tenure:a system of land tenure regulated by customary rules. • Freehold Land tenure system:Means the holding of registered land in perpetuity • Mailo tenure system:the holding of registered land in perpetuity and having roots in the allotment of land pursuant to the 1900 Uganda Agreement • Leasehold land tenure system:holding of land for a given period from a specified date of commencement, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the lessor and lessee.

12. FOREST CERTIFICATION EMERGENCE • Forest certification has been driven by external organizations • 35,000 ha of forest in two national parks of Elgon (25,000ha) and Kibale (10,000ha) have been certified for Carbon Sequestration by the UWA-Face project • The East African Forest Certification initiative aimed at building capacity is implemented by International Agricultural Centre, GTZ, and ETC East Africa

13. Tree Farms, a Norwegian company, under its subsidiary, The Busoga Forest Company, has expressed interest in forest certification for purposes of trading in Carbon • No forest or non-forest products from the certified forests being traded presently. • As of now, certification has been for evidence of the quality of activities by the UWA-Face project.

14. ROADBLOCK & CHALLENGES • Designing Ugandan forest certification standards that are friendly and applicable to our situations • Conflicts between local communities bordering FRs • Reconciling the environmentalists given that their thinking is deeply rooted into social & ecologically effects • Lack of stewardship, institutional support, public accountability, and corruption among forest officers, and over reliance on external support

15. REACTION TO CERTIFICATION • In Uganda, the majority do not know forest certification • Development of National Standards in line with FSC P&C. NFA supports FC. • Incorporation of Certification in University Syllubus • Uganda Forestry Association and Uganda Wood Farmers Association in principle support FC • Potential Market for certified products & support from donor agencies

16. EFFECTS OF CERTIFICATION • Power: Development of National Standard to support SFM in the country • Social benefits: local communities access Park Resources;Skills in Nursery operations; Access to cultural sites • Economic benefits: Employment and income from seedlings sold to project • Environmental: Habitat-store for carbon, Tourism, Community development through projects supporting soil conservation

17. CONCLUSION • The concept of FC is new to the majority in Uganda. Intensive sanitization campaigns are essential for the concept to gain root. • Forest certification in Uganda and the East African region, has been initiated by external drivers, with governments playing minimal roles. • The benefits are not exclusively attributed to the forest certification process. • Prospects for forest certification are high given the institutional support and arrangements in place.