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Back to Project Summary Page


Uganda Nile Basin Reforestation

Biodiversity
The projected reforestation will mainly benefit biodiversity by providing additional habitats and by reducing pressure on existing natural forests and habitats. The reduction of fire occurrence and new management measures will also directly benefit biodiversity in the area and will improve ecosystems by restoring the natural accumulation process of organic material on the soil. The establishment of plantations will also contribute to reduce notably the pressure on the natural forest in the area, notably by providing an additional sustainable source of fuelwood from debris, thinning and pruning.

The project area will be planted in majority with non native species, Pinus caribaea and Pinus oocarpa. This choice has been made to reduce the risk of the project. Experiences on forest plantations based on native tree species are very limited in East Africa. Apart from Maesopsis and Prunus, used in the project, no other native species with a commercial value proved to be successful under the prevailing site conditions in Rwoho. The learning experiences from planting native tree species will decrease this technological barrier in future projects. The non-native species used here have been introduced for several decades in the country- Pinus caribea was introduced in 1960 -and are not known to be invasive. They are also well adapted to droughts and to the low soil depth on the ridges and steep slopes. However, potential negative impacts of Pine plantations on the forest soil condition will be mitigated by using modern silvicultural systems focusing on the optimization of the single tree performance. With this management system the spacing between trees is sufficient for the establishment of undergrowth vegetation.

Seeds for the non native species will be collected either from foreign orchards or from trees in mature plantations in Uganda. In all cases, the number of mother trees will be large (>30) to ensure genetic variability. Seeds for the native species will be collected from superior trees from Uganda's natural forests, and efforts will always be made to maximize the number of mother trees per location (>20). The impact of the seed collection on existing forests is expected to be minor, considering the relatively low share of native species to be planted.

Other Environmental Benefits and Risks
The projected plantation will benefit the local environment by reversing the ongoing land degradation. The reserve is an upper watershed of Lake Victoria with several small rivers and serves an important role. The permanent land-use will reduce erosion induced discharge in water flows and increase dry season flows. Fire management activities will also contribute to reduce the severe soil erosion in the area and contribute to the accumulation of organic material in the topsoil. Focusing also on the natural successions between planted blocks, the management activities will reinforce the previous benefits and control run offs.

The project activities will also help monitor more clearly the activities from communities in the Reserve (mainly cattle grazing) and will contribute to the mitigation of practices from communities resulting in degradation.

The existing road system will be only extended if necessary and low impact road construction techniques will be applied. Mechanical site preparation techniques will be restricted to areas capable of supporting these activities without generation of accelerated erosion or other unacceptable forms of land degradation.

ENCOFOR, which will also provide technical support, will develop and apply environmental impact assessment guidelines for the project (http://www.joanneum.at/encofor), based on existing international standards and in compliance with the National Environment Management Authority (http://www.nemaug.org).

The project design can be easily duplicated and adapted within Uganda and Africa, where prevailing land-use and socio-economic conditions often do not permit large scale forestry projects. The management design of the project has also a high demonstration value for communities by implementing community based reforestation, and commercial timber and Prunus bark production. ENCOFOR will also develop respective guidelines that support the reproduction of the small-scale project approach.

Socio-economic benefits and risks
The project will first provide employment in the region, which is completely lacking income opportunities apart from selling produce at the local markets. The project will employ around 500 people for the first three years to establish the plantation and then 200 people until year 10 for fire protection, thinning, pruning, and nursery work. Labor will be employed locally involving the local councils and opinion leaders. If sufficient labor can not be found locally not more than 40% labor from outside will be contracted. 50 permanent workers will be needed for the remaining project period, and will all be employed locally.

In addition to direct employment, the project will support the establishment of private woodlots within the framework of collaborative forest management agreements either on private or on public land as stipulated in the National Forest Law. Local communities expressed strong interest in tree growing. Establishment of private woodlots will be supported in future clusters if the first one is successful. The agreement will be signed between the communities' leaders and the NFA. In the first cluster, RECPA will link the project with communities in the area.

Further benefits will come from the provision of fuelwood, and from the improvement of the local infrastructure through project activities like road construction and maintenance. Finally, timber products from the project will generate opportunities for local value adding activities, and taxes for the local administration and local councils close to the community.

The project will provide training to workers, including training in nursery, planting techniques and plantation maintenance, fire protection and fire fighting techniques, thinning and pruning techniques. The project will be central to the NFA's policy of identifying local people to be trained in plantation establishment techniques. Suitable candidates will be given training in business management as well as technical forestry matters. Other community members will also have the opportunity to learn nursery and forest management skills for private planting and they will also gain from the respective processing and marketing support provided by the NFA. The project will especially encourage group learning on the site of the project.

The reduction of the illegal grazing and charcoal burning in the forested area may harm some communities. However, the project will bring additional sources of income, communities will keep privileges for using the area, and material from pruning or thinning will be used for limited legal charcoal burning. Involvement of local leaders in the general forest activities and speaking to the local council meetings will help to lower existing resistance or uncertainty. Formally, the collaborative forest management agreement stipulating rights and responsibilities is the main instrument to mitigate such potential negative impacts.

More generally, stakeholders in the area are consulted by the NFA on a regular basis through the three staff members based in the Rwoho Reserve. People have been continuously informed about ongoing activities, through formal and informal meetings. During consultations in March 2005 the community leader expressed their strong interest in the project and the general support to forestry activities in the region.

The NFA will monitor the different activities, in accordance with the national standard developed for certification that require regular documentation of all aspects of forestry management in which community concerns will take part.

Leakage
The project will be established in areas without any land-use conflicts. However, migratory grazers are active in the area. They were informed two years ago that the Central Forest Reserve will be used for forestry activities. The local council supporting income generating activities is already limiting respective activities in the specific areas.

The project will maintain the natural vegetation in the conservation area within the Reserve and the valleys and will protect it from fire and illegal utilization. However, this achieved carbon pool will not be credited to account for any potential leakage resulting from the reforestation activities (site preparation, transport related emissions).

Risk of Non Permanence

The nature conservation area will be integrated within the general plantations framework of NFA and will be maintained as part of the management of the reserve. As part of this sustainable forest management, the designated plantation areas are envisioned to be replanted after each harvest.

The NFA owns 100% of the designated project area, there is no known encroachment within the project area, and the reserve boundaries are widely respected. In addition, the social benefits brought by the project will increase support from the communities neighboring the reserve.

The people outside of the reserve mainly are subsistence farmers and cattle grazers. They do partly depend on natural resources from within the reserve (fuel-wood and grazing grounds). However, the number of cattle declined substantially in the past five years, and the local council supporting income generating activities is limiting this activity in the specific areas of the project.

Human induced forest fire is a serious potential risk in the area. Caused by cattle grazers they often get out of control and contribute to erosion and loss in biodiversity. The project will mitigate this risk directly by maintaining a fire line around each planting block. In addition, a fire management plan will be developed and fire control will be a crucial element of the collaborative forest management agreement for plantations by communities. An incentive system will be developed together with the communities to control fires within the plantation and conservation area and in a buffer zone surrounding the forest reserve. A sufficient budget to collect information on fire risks (monitoring of environmental parameter), to raise awareness, and to provide fire control and fire fighting equipment is considered in the financial plan.

The project will reduce the risk from pest by minimizing the stress in the planted areas. It will implement 'good silviculture' measures such as matching species with prevailing site conditions and adopting cultural practices to ensure vigorous tree growth capable of resisting the pressures of pest and diseases.

Additionality
The project area is a Central Forest reserve. There is therefore no legal basis to consider any alternative economic attractive course of action. The NFA itself does not have the resources to protect all Central Forest Reserves in Uganda. Only the most valuable in terms of biodiversity conservation and stocking volume can be protected. The Rwoho Central Forest Reserve targeted here is not on the priority list and therefore without any new financing mechanisms the NFA is not able to reforest this area.

At the national scale, the experience in Uganda showed that without additional incentives timber plantations will not be established. Other potential investments yield a higher rate of return, like agricultural activities or fish farming. Among the major constraints to Forestry activites are the start-up costs, and the relatively low profitability resulting from competition with illegal timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan. The carbon component is expected to provide the additional incentive to invest in the establishment of forests. Therefore the main incentives for the NFA to develop a CDM forestry project were to gain capacity and to support the private sector to replicate the project approach and to benefit from the respective business opportunities.

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