The
Association for the Conservation of Bugoma Forest, Uganda Wildlife Society,
Uganda Society, Destination Jungle LTD, Uganda Jungle Lodges LTD are expressing
their concern and the condemnation over the current attempt of giving away a
relevant block of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve in Hoima District.
An
organized group of people has tried to encroach on the central part of the
forest, Muhangaizima block claiming a total of 8.000 hectares of tropical
forest under the mandate of the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom. The intention is to
grade down the forest for the purpose of establishing sugar cane plantation.
This situation is ongoing since February 2016 and the pressure is mounting.
This
affected area is the central part of the gazetted Bugoma Forest, which means
that encroaching is equal to compromise the survival of Bugoma Forest as a
whole. Bugoma Forest is one of the most important forests in Uganda for
biodiversity, which is explained in the geography of the Alberetine Rift
Valley, crucial for the development of tourism in Uganda. It is home to the
endangered and internationally protected chimpanzees; it is home to a large
number of primates’ species like the endemic Ugandan mangabeys and it is a
birding destination. To destroy the forest is equal to destroy as well the
right of the wildlife and birds to survive. There are only less than 5.000
chimpanzees remaining in Uganda of which about 500 are believed to live in
Bugoma forest.
The
Association for the Conservation of Bugoma Forest has started in 2014 an
enrichment tree-planting project for the regeneration of degraded areas. Even
this project is under the target of the encroachers and the project cannot be
currently accessed, leading to loss of the resources invested from the work of
the association in collaboration with the CFM group of Kyangwali.
On
17th April 2016 a group of 10 people from Kisaru Trading Center
attacked 4 staff of National Forestry Authority with pangas and iron bars,
seriously injuring them as they were on patrol during the day near Rwera site.
Phone calls and intimidations are made daily to the personnel of the State, the
Police, the National Forestry Authority who are doing their best to carry out
their duties.
At
the beginning of 2016 eco-tourism activities have started in the forest at
Rwera, near the area which is currently encroached. Moreover, the National
Forestry Authority has issued in 2015 new licenses to operate eco-tourism to
private investors. There are also in-coming private investments in
accommodation (the construction of Bugoma Forest Lodge by Uganda Jungle Lodges
LTD) and in research on biodiversity like on the chimpanzees (by the Jane
Goodall Institute). All this has the potential to make Bugoma Forest in the
near future one of the new relevant tourist attractions in Uganda, with trickle
down mechanisms for local communities where poverty and lack of jobs and
investments are rampant.
All
these future developments will be affected by the criminal behavior of who is
trying to push forward selfish interests detrimental to the environment and in
full illegality, since Bugoma Central Forest reserve is a protected forest
under the State.
Recommendations
1. We urge those who are encroaching to
give up any attempt to break the law. The excuse that no boundaries have been
ascertained is only the cover for a clearly illegal activity. Everybody, from
the NFA to the local communities is very much aware about the forest’s
boundaries.
2. We urge a full investigation over the
responsibilities of these illegal operations in Bugoma Forest and we recommend
that any damage so far caused to the environment and to the State be
compensated and that justice prevails.
3. We urge those firms like Hoima Sugar
Works LTD or individuals who are willing to deal or invest in sugar cane
cultivation to do so legally, in areas where it is possible to carry out such
an investment, by legal purchase of land and being far from this ecosystem of
important biodiversity where wildlife is present. There are other areas
available and more suitable than a protected reserve which is a tourist
destination.
4. We urge the leaders of Hoima District
and Bunyoro kingdom to be responsible toward the development and the
sustainable future of the area, considering that already more than 70 % of
forest cover was lost in the last 20 years, which has affected climatic change
and the livelihood of the people, losing important resources for the future and
for tourism, creating a mechanism of permanent poverty. Leaders should now take
care of the remaining forests and engage in forests regeneration, not in forest
destruction.
5. We urge the leaders, the private
sector and the public sector to avoid, condemn and resist the temptation of
corruption which will further exacerbate the development in the region by
helping selfish interests to prevail over the respect of the law and over the
interest of the local communities.
6. We urge the Ministry of Water and Environment,
the Government of Uganda and the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda to take
action and to closely monitor the rampant escalation of illegality and violence
in Bugoma Forest by increasing the presence of security and military personnel
in the area to protect the staff and those civilians who are engaging in
activities for the protection of the forest.
