Environmental conflicts as Acholi return home
In between survival and the disappearing greens of Northern Uganda
Gloria Laker Aciro
Dire poverty has pushed Northern Uganda communities that are recovering from
war to massive cutting down of trees for charcoal. This is rapidly depleting
native forests and posing environmental threats to the rural communities and
the greater Uganda
Travelling the bumpy, rough roads of Gulu and Nwoya districts in Northern
Uganda, one sees large swaths of bare lands with only scattered trees. These
lands were once covered in thick forests of both hard and soft wood. Forests
in the area flourished during the two-decade LRA conflict, when many locals
were displaced from their villages. But today, communities have returned to
their land, and the forest cover has steadily diminished.
Gulu, for example, had 371km² of forest in 1990, but environmentalists now
estimate the cover to be only 200km², a reduction they attribute to the
chopping down of trees for charcoal, and the quest to open up land for
cultivation. For instance, Langele village, adjacent to Murchison Falls
National Park in Nwoya district, was once known for its beautiful scenery
and thick forests. This is no longer the case as locals have depleted the
forest that used to be a prime hunting area. Watering places for animals
have also dried up without trees to hold the moisture and prevent erosion.
For rural people, the charcoal trade is one of the few opportunities to earn
desperately needed income. But even people who earn their livelihood from
charcoal worry about the destruction of their native land. It's true people
indeed need charcoal for cooking, but the situation seems (to be) getting
out of hand, says Ominy Daniel, a charcoal dealer in Gulu. Each time I go
to collect charcoal for sale, I find no trees being replanted across
northern Uganda. Instead, I notice more land left open which exposes
peoples crops to extreme sunshine and tough winds which destroy them.
Jennifer Anyap, a farmer, says the greenery that used to characterise Koch
Ongako village in Gulu has largely disappeared. Ms Anyap confesses that she
cuts trees for charcoal three times a year to raise her daughters school
fees. I see more and more trees being cut, she says. It is dangerous, but
if I do not cut my daughter wont have school fees because I do not have any
other source of income.
Geoffrey Oryema, the Nwoya district chairman, says poverty and lack of a
meaningful livelihood are the driving factors behind environmental
destruction in Nwoya district. Although aware of the environmental impact of
indiscriminate cutting of trees, Abonga Alex, a resident of Nwoya, agrees
that many people are forced to cut because of poverty. I am trying to
survive, I cant sit hungry in that forest, Abonga says. He notes that
charcoal buyers not only provide cash when they purchase wood, they also
help villagers clear forested land for cultivation.
Previously, Kampala charcoal traders got wood from areas in central Uganda.
But private and community forests near the city are now depleted, and
traders
have to look for newer sources of supply in northern Uganda. Lillian Obonyo,
a charcoal trader, regularly travels from Kampala to northern Uganda to pick
up truckloads of charcoal destined for the popular Owino Market in the heart
of the capital city. I have been in this trade for over five years she
says. We get our supply from northern Uganda because the charcoal produced
there is of good quality and in high demand.
According to Richard Kisakye of Nyabyeya Forestry College, northern Uganda
has many of the trees most in demand, including Yaa (Shea-butter tree),
Ogali (Camels foot leaf tree), Okechu (Velvet-leafed combretum), Beyo
(Lucky bean tree), Awok (Large-leafed albizia) and Cwaa (Tamarind). But he
says the charcoal business faces an uncertain future, and the environment
faces disaster if the current rate of cutting continues without more
planting. As long as they cut down more trees than they can grow per year,
it is not sustainable and will lead to deforestation, Kisakye says.
An estimated 89 per cent of Ugandans depend on charcoal and wood for
cooking. Moreover, Ugandas rapid population growth, coupled with increasing
urbanisation, has increased the demand for energy, especially cooking fuel.
Uganda will suffer dire environmental effects if no immediate remedial
measures are put in place, says Aryamanya Mugisha the executive director of
Ugandas National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
Uganda had more than five million hectares of forest in 1990, but only 3.5
million hectares remained by 2005. If deforestation continues at the
present rate, Uganda will have lost all its forested land by 2050, the
National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) warns in its State of the
Environment for Uganda 2008 report. Making matters worse, charcoal burning
is notoriously inefficient. Trees are chopped to pieces and then fired in
traditional kilns. This process converts only 10 per cent of the trees into
charcoal, according to Kisakye. This means that for every bag of charcoal
produced, nine bags of wood are wasted. If the efficiency could be doubled,
half as many trees would have to be cut to produce the same amount of
charcoal. Consumers are not helping. Only 8.5 per cent of people who use
charcoal have efficient stoves. This means that most run out of charcoal
faster than should be the case.
Additional inefficiencies are introduced during transport and storage at
market places. Kisakye argues that charcoal producers should be informed of
ways to improve efficiency. He says private investment in charcoal
production can lead to purposeful growing of trees for charcoal production
and use of alternative technology like char kiln to make briquettes out of
biomass waste this uses a simple mechanical process that gives a cleaner
burning, more environmentally friendly fuel for personal consumption or sale
rather than earth kilns.
The government can also play an important role. Although the many people who
are employed to produce, transport and sell charcoal will be hurt if their
business collapses, charcoal is only mentioned casually in government policy
documents. Experts say the government needs to help communities understand
the dangers of indiscriminate forest-cutting, and devise alternative,
sustainable livelihoods for people. This includes finding a viable new
source of energy.
The trade-off between short-term and long-term considerations is illustrated
by honey-production. At the moment, it is actually helped by the rapid
spread of charcoal production in the north. As Mzee Odinga a bee farmer in
Koch Lii in Nwoya district explains, deforestation has forced bees to
migrate because their traditional habitats are being destroyed. That, in
turn, has meant Odingas beehives are being populated more rapidly. In
addition, increased crop cultivation has produced more food for his bees.
But Odinga isnt celebrating. Charcoal production has also reduced some of
the thick vegetation where bees used to find food. And, more ominously,
tree-cutting has led to a drop in the water table, forcing his bees to fly
longer distances during times of drought to support themselves. In the long
run, the falling water table is a warning sign of trouble, not only for bees
but for humans as well. To me the total blame gets back to the government
authorities and the local leaders who should write down sets of laws and
policies to control forest use. If not then it will affect the future of our
children. concludes Odinga.
Good policy-making, of course, will not be easy. It will require officials
to help people think more about the long-term, rather than dwelling on their
immediate needs, which at the moment are best served by rapid deforestation.
The major concern however is that charcoal burning has led to deforestation
which in turn has resulted in environmental degradation with unfavourable
consequences like climatic change which is currently being experienced in
northern Uganda - this affects the general biodiversity and causes more
problems such as soil erosion, destruction of road networks, air pollution
and depletion of the ozone layer. The ozone layer is particularly important
since its absence exposes the earth to dangerous rays from the sun that have
serious effects on human life.
More so, as forests are being depleted, wild life is disappearing and areas
that were formerly tourist attractions have now been affected negatively and
lost their appeal.
* Gloria Laker Aciro is a former war reporter, having covered the Lords
Resistance Army conflicts in Northern Uganda. Today she heads the Peace
Journalism Foundation of East Africa. She is a writer and a radio mentor.
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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