Deforestation and Uganda Essay Example

been attributed to a number of reasons ranging from the population explosion and the energy needs of the population. The loss of forest cover has become focal point in conservation of biodiversity in the country.

Here are the causes of deforestation in Uganda. Uganda has experienced a very large growth of population in the recent years to an extent that Uganda has been ranked by the UNDP to have the fastest growing population in the world. The increase in population can be said to be the root cause of deforestation because it has an effect on all the other causes like settlement fuel etc. Most of the forests in Uganda are located around the Lake Victoria basin and this same region has the highest growing population in Africa. The population of the basin in Uganda increased from about 8. 57 million in 1960 to about 25 million in 2000.

This led to the need for land for the people to settle on and firewood and charcoal for fuel. These could only be provided by the encroachment and destruction of the forests. The population increase is very important cause of deforestation because the need of shelter, food and basic necessities render other uses of forests seem irrelevant to the people. It is a known that like other developing countries, most of Uganda’s population is rural. This implies that most of the people depend on wood and other natural products for their energy needs as 92 percent of Ugandans depend on forest products for their cooking, lighting etc.

This has placed a large amount of pressure on the remaining forests which a being cut

down without restraint to feed the energy hungry population of the country. And to make matters worse the alternative fuel sources like hydro electric power and fossil fuels have recently experienced upward spikes in their prices. This has made fuel from the forests not only easier to attain but also the most affordable source undermining calls by the conservationists and the government for people to change to other energy sources.

Commercial logging to get timber for construction and other needs is another leading cause of deforestation in Uganda. The urban areas in east Africa are experiencing a construction boom due to the high infrastructural growth and this has made commercial logging very profitable. This commercial logging has encouraged the cutting down of the forests most especially in western Uganda which is very rural and not monitored by the forest authorities. This has also led to the replacement of tropical indigenous species with fast growing species like eucalyptus trees effectively removing the biodiversity of the forests.

Commercial logging is accompanied by corruption as it has been found that many of these logging operations are run by high ranking military officials in the country. The Forest Produce Monitoring Unit (FPMU) a taskforce appointed by the president charged with empowering the forestry staff found members from the forest authority, police, army and ISO were involved in the illegal logging racket. All this has led to the unchecked destruction of the countries forests and thus deforestation.

Most of the people in Uganda depend on agriculture as a primary source of income directly or in directly and this means land is needed to sustain the agricultural life

style of the people. This has led to deforestation in that forest lands are usually fertile and most suitable for agriculture, making encroachment of forests to grow crops unavoidable. The growing of commercial cash crops like sugarcane, tea and coffee has lead to deforestation as plantations are usually set up in fertile soils of forest areas.

A prominent example was Kakira sugar works attempt to acquire a piece of mabira forest land in Mokono to expand their sugarcane plantation but this was stopped by public outcry. But usually forest land is sold by the government in the name of investor encouragement essentially turning forest land into farm land. Over grazing and the search for pastures for livestock has lead to destruction of forests most especially in eastern and western parts of the country where livestock raring and nomadism are prominent. Forests and woodlands in their nature do not make good pasture as the flora mainly consist of trees which livestock do not eat.

So the trees are usually cut down to make way for the growth of suitable pasture lands which are more beneficial to the way of life than the forest. This destroys the forest a habitat to very many species to create land which favours survival of few domestic species and this is detrimental to the conservation of the forest biodiversity. In the urban areas like Kampala the standard of life has improved creating a wealthier middle class who have created a need for better homes in suburban areas outside the city centre.

This has led to the rapid growth of the real estate market as many housing estates are

being set up and this leads to the cutting down of forests and trees to create land on which the estates a set up on. Deforestation is also carried out in order to provide services like roads, electricity, water and shops for the people in these areas to utilise. Since these estates have become very profitable and employment to a large number of people the government is reluctant to stop these estates from taking up forest land.

This ends up frustrating any conservation efforts for these forests near urban areas. Political instability of Uganda through the decades has been a contributing factor to the deforestation in the country. In times of insecurity and war most efforts to conserve forests and woodlands are abandoned as these areas usually act as hide outs and battle grounds for insurgents in the country. In Luwero district where most of the fighting of the NRM liberation struggle occurred much of the forest cover was destroyed.

These groups usually use the forest areas to grow food, provide shelter and wood for fuel and in an attempt to drive out the rebels the government destroys the forests through burning and cutting down of the trees. All these factors put together have made political instability a major cause of deforestation in Uganda which has had political instability since the 1960s. Industrial development and urbanisation has become a leading cause of deforestation. The government has come up with a policy to eradicate poverty through encouraging investment in the industrial sector and this has given sector top priority in the country.

This has lead to leasing of forest land to investors setting

up industries and these industries come with urbanisation as schools hospitals, roads and other utilities used by the industrial employees leading to the further clearing of forests to provide the needed land. An example an area where industrialisation has led to deforestation in the recent years is in Namanve in Mokono district a forest area which the government as demarcated as an industrial area and this has caused the forest reserve to shrink in size as companies like coca-cola have set up factories there.

As it can be seen there are numerous causes for the loss of Uganda’s forest cover in through the decades and this destruction of forests has not gone unnoticed and without consequences. The deforestation has largely caused a number of negative effects that can no longer be ignored not only by conservationists but by the government and the general public. These effects are either affecting the people directly or indirectly and they include the following. Desertification is one of the prominent causes of deforestation in many parts of Africa.

The cutting down of forests leads to loss of water catchment areas, soil degradation and other factors that have lead to forest and woodland areas to turn to semi arid areas. This has mainly been observed in Karamoja and other parts of eastern Uganda which were predominantly woodland and savannah but now arid areas with unpredictable rainfall seasons. This has dramatically affected the lifestyle the people living in these areas as can be seen by the recent famines and droughts in the area, lack of pastures and water for the livestock of the nomadic people of Karamoja and Teso.