Industry & nature clash - again

Uganda's national parks and forests are facing increased pressure from a growing population as well as the President's plan to sell off the Mabira Central Forest Preserve to a sugar company in an effort to industrialize the Ugandan economy.

Uganda's forests have been losing ground since the early 1990's -- a staggering 26 percent. The real problem is that the percentage of Uganda's forests that are "conserved" is a little less than 15 percent. Here's the kicker, though: Only 18.6 percent of Uganda is forest. Figure out the math, and conserved forest is only 2.8 percent of the total area in Uganda.

Can Uganda really stand to lose anymore of the forests, not to mention the few national parks, they have left? In about forty years, that may become merely an academic question.

From a just-published Daily Telegraph article, the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda is experiencing problems arising from more and more villages within its boundaries.

Eleven growing villages, with about 55,000 people in total, are dotted across the park. Their inhabitants, whose presence is technically illegal, live by fishing and herding cattle. They have nowhere else to go because almost every inch of fertile land in the surrounding area has been taken and cultivated. Uganda's population, already exceeding 30 million, will triple in the next four decades. A United Nations forecast suggests that by 2050, the country will have 93 million people. If so, the park, which has carried the Queen's name after she opened its gates in 1954, risks being swamped. Some 165,000 people will live inside by 2050 - and millions more nearby. Far from being a pristine wilderness, the reserve will have a human population density of 200 per square mile. -- Daily Telegraph

Of course, people need land to live on, but you can see the problem that Uganda's national parks are facing. Lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards, buffalo all call this park home, as well as hundreds of species of birds and other mammals. Lions and humans do not usually fare that well living side-by-side. And it doesn't help when the people living in the park feel that the animals should all be put into zoos.

Earlier this year, a lion killed one man on the edge of the village. In theory, the park's rangers should have been summoned to shoot the animal. But the villagers were so enraged that they killed the lion themselves. "It would be best if the park was not here," said Mr Masereka. "They should put all the animals in the zoo and leave this land to us." -- Daily Telegraph

Yoweri Museveni

These human-wildlife conflicts are becoming increasingly common worldwide. It is hard to convince some people that animals deserve a home, too. And the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is not helping matters. Last week, he resurrected plans to sell off about 17,500 acres of the Mabira Central Forest Preserve to the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, Limited (owned privately by the Mehta Family), so that the company, that produces alcohol as well as sweet, sweet sugar, can plant more sugarcane. This plan of Museveni's had been attacked by his people and members of Parliament, as well as environmentalists. In October, Reuters reported that Uganda reached a "final decision not to allow Mabira forest to be destroyed and replaced with sugarcane." (Reuters)

What brings about the renewed efforts of Museveni's? When the plan was scrapped previously, a President's spokesperson said that, "If the government finds an alternative, I don't think the president has any special interest in pursuing this."(Reuters)

Is it that no other land is available? That does not bode well for Uganda's future. However, does planting sugarcane for alcohol represent sound fiscal planning for that future?

Great blue turaco Photo credit: Nature Uganda

Foresters estimate the value of the wood in the part of Mabira Mehta wants to axe at around $170 million and say it can be logged in a sustainable way. This compares with about $11 million per year from what Mehta expects to be 35,000 tonnes of sugar. -- Reuters

Not to mention that Mabira is home to rare birds such as the Nathan’s francolin, Cassin’s hawk eagle, green tailed bristle bill, grey long bill, leaf love, paradise flycatcher, sooty boubou, purple-throated cuckoo shrike and many more.

Eh, maybe they will be happier in zoos.

Further Reading:

• The World Bank Sets Its Sights on the Congo