How putting a price on Uganda’s resources can secure its future

What the report says

The Independent Uganda, citing URN, reported on July 23, 2026, that Ugandan policymakers, economists and conservation advocates are increasingly backing Natural Capital Accounting as a way to balance poverty reduction with protection of forests, wetlands, lakes and wildlife. The article frames the debate as a development challenge: natural resources often boost short-term output when exploited, but their broader services to farming, water regulation, carbon storage and biodiversity are frequently left out of economic planning.

Wilson Asiimwe, a senior economic modeller at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, is cited as warning that valuing a tree only after it becomes timber can encourage depletion and eventually undermine GDP. Dr. Peter Babyenda of Makerere University’s Centre of Excellence for Africa Climate-Sensitive Macroeconomic Modelling said more of nature’s contribution should be measured and built into fiscal policy, public investment and national budgeting.

The report says economists from NEMA, the finance and water ministries, UBOS and other institutions have worked through the Makerere centre on policy briefs promoting ecosystem accounting. UBOS previously produced physical and monetary accounts for 10 ecosystem types from 1990 to 2015. Those accounts valued Uganda’s ecosystem assets at 387.6 trillion shillings in 1990 and 682.9 trillion shillings in 2015, while the value available per person fell by 17.7 percent, a decline linked to losses in forests, woodlands, wetlands and open water systems.

Environment State Minister Beatrice Atim Anywar said putting an economic value on ecosystems could strengthen protection efforts and conservation financing, including payments for ecosystem services, tourism reinvestment, carbon markets and biodiversity credits. The issue matters because Uganda’s agriculture, livelihoods and future growth depend heavily on ecosystems that are under mounting pressure.