Functions of the Central Forest Reserves in Uganda

The functions have been categorized as follows:

1. Ecological and environmental Functions

   CFRs under this category serve the following main functions:

   1. Protection of fragile ecological landscapes which include steep hills, lakeshores, river banks and wetlands: The vegetation may range from closed natural forests to more open woodlands and even grasslands. Some of these CFRs have been planted with forest plantations and others will be planted as private sector investment gains momentum. They prevent flush floods, landslides, soil erosion and the subsequent blockages of water systems essential for generation of hydro-power, processing of industries, human consumption and livestock survival, among others.
   2. Conservation of biological diversity: these CFRs are part of the network of critical areas that is necessary to enable the protected areas in Uganda to sustain viable populations of the species (animals and plants) that are endangered or threatened. Again vegetation in these reserves ranges from closed natural forests (especially in the Albertine Rift and the Lake Victoria-Kyoga-Albert regions) to more open woodlands and even grasslands (especially in the eastern and northern regions of Uganda. Other CFRs in this category include those which are not very rich in biodiversity but they serve the important function of connecting biodiversity-rich zones so that the animals and plants can be mobile. They are also known as “biodiversity corridors.” Disconnected from each other, the biodiversity areas may cease to be viable on their own; the species may fail to cross-breed and thus eventually disappear from the face of the earth forever.
   3. Maintenance of environmental health: these reserves are found mainly in urban centres where they help to clean the air of the noxious gases generated in the busy urban life. These are often located in wetland and along rivers that meander through the urban centres and therefore serve the important functions of purifying the water on which the poorer sections of the urbanites depend.
   4. Protection of Watersheds: these forests may be natural or planted but they serve the important function of protecting the sources of underground water that re-charges lakes, rivers, springs and wells. The CFRs ringing Lake Victoria are an example. Without these forests, the economy of the country as we know it today would grind to a halt.

2. Industrial and commercial Forest Plantations

   hese CFRs are either already planted, being planted, or are earmarked for planting by the private sector under licenses issued by NFA or the NFA itself is planting them. Most of them are located in the “Cattle Corridor”. They serve the following functions:

   1. Timber plantations: these CFRs will form the backbone for processing industries for timber, veneer & plywood, chip boards and other wood-based industrial products. They have the potential to industrialise the rural areas. The private sector is waking up to the profitability of investments in timber plantations. They are beginning to attract foreign direct investment into the rural areas of the country. Unfortunately encroachers are making it unattractive for these investors and as a result, some are re-locating to other countries in the region where there are more friendly social environments.
   2. Production of poles: these include transmission poles, construction and building poles for the fast-expanding rural electrification schemes and the fast-growing construction industry in Uganda and the region at large.
   3. Production of woodfuel: Charcoal is an important input in the manufacture of steel, cement and lime. Recently, efforts have been made by local companies to establish partnerships with foreign companies to invest in energy plantations for this purpose. It was estimated that 1,600,000 m3 of woodfuel would be needed annually for the steel industry alone (NFA Records, 2005). This would be an equivalent of 4000-5000 ha of energy plantations per year, corresponding to an investment of Shs. 6 billion (US $ 3.3 million) annually. But in addition, these CFRs are currently being used or will be used to produce firewood for the small-scale processing industries like tobacco, bakeries, breweries and brick-making.

   However, it must be noted that some of the reserves targeted for industrial forest plantations are located in ecologically sensitive areas, especially in the hilly areas of Bundibugyo, Mbarara, Ntungamo, Kabale, Kyenjojo, Masindi and West Nile. Therefore they also serve to protect these hills from erosion.

3. 6ocal fuel, charcoal and Forest Investment Functions

   These reserves are generally small or highly encroached. However, they are important for supplying local areas with the forest products that they need. These are the reserves where the smaller-scale investors in forestry can be licensed to produce as outgrowers for the processing industries. Today, local people have been licensed to grow small areas (even 2 hectares) of timber plantations, poles (especially in peri-urban areas) and subsequently charcoal plantations. These are the products that are being harvested beyond the carrying capacity of most forest (government or private) and therefore deliberately growing them as small to medium-scale forest-based enterprises will be profitable to the local people with limited investment capital.

   Of course, the CFRs alone cannot meet all the needs of the country for forest-based industry and people’s livelihoods, but as forests continue to disappear from private lands, the CFRs will remain the core areas from which to source and grow the raw materials. But this also calls for stepped up protection of the remaining forests on private lands. It also calls for bringing more private land under forest production.

4. Forests and Climate Change6

   In addition to the above functions, forests are important for stabilising climate, especially through absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. In its fact sheets on forestry WWF has observed that rising concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are driving changes in the earth’s climate patterns, resulting in extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, heat waves, droughts and floods, and threatening plant and animal life. Forests play a critical role in protecting the earth from climate change and regulating climate patterns, as the trees – trunks, branches and roots – and even soil absorb and store CO₂, providing a natural reservoir for this GHG gas. When forests are destroyed or degraded by activities such as logging and conversion of forests to agricultural land, they release large quantities of CO₂ and other GHGs, and become a significant (and, for some developing countries, a primary) source of GHG emissions and contributor to climate change

   Estimates on the contribution of deforestation to carbon emissions are believed to be about 19 per cent of global emissions. The bulk of emissions from deforestation arise when land is converted to agricultural production, particularly if forests are first cleared with burning.

   While afforestation and reforestation are important, and helpful for supporting reduced emissions, stopping deforestation and forest degradation is more urgent from a climate perspective. It takes decades for a tree to grow from a seedling.

   Reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is a highly cot-effective way of reducing greenhouse gases, if the drivers of deforestation are addressed strategically. If it is done well, it can benefit conservation and people. However, it should be noted that while forests are important in REDD, they are also negatively affected by climate change. Forests become drier, leading to more severe fires, becoming more vulnerable to insects and diseases. In extreme case, previously forested areas become grasslands and eventually desertification sets in. in the face of these impacts, adaptive measures include reducing fragmentation of forest areas and preventing conversion to high intensity plantation crops.

   Therefore, it is important that our forests are protected, made more productive and that more land is brought under forest production.