Uganda Replacing Forests With Sugarcane Fields Draws Ire

As the world observes the Environment Day on Saturday, activists in Uganda are drawing attention to the government's move to replace the protected tropical Bugoma Forest with sugarcane fields

KAMPALA (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jun, 2021 ) As the world observes the Environment Day on Saturday, activists in Uganda are drawing attention to the government's move to replace the protected tropical Bugoma Forest with sugarcane fields.

They say these forests stretching over 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of land, which work as lungs for the country's biodiversity, are on the verge of destruction due to sugarcane plantations.

The forest that stretches along the northern tip of the Albertine Rift Valley, which divides Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is home to more than 255 species of birds, 260 species of trees, and 34 species of mammals, including nine on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list of threatened species.

The government authorized swathes of the tropical forest to be cleared for sugarcane plantation by Hoima Sugar Limited, a Ugandan company.

On Aug. 14, 2020, the National Environmental Management Authority, a government agency responsible for regulating Uganda's natural environment and environmental policy, granted Hoima Sugar Limited permission to use the forest by issuing a certificate of approval for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment report for mixed land use on 21.54 square miles. Along with sugarcane cultivation, the company plans to build schools, a market, a hospital, and an ecotourism center.

Under the Land Act, forest reserves like Bugoma are held in trust for the common good of the people and may not be leased or sold by the government.