Uganda’s Forest Crisis Is Not a Policy Failure, But an Implementation Failure, Says ACODE

What the report says

Nile Post reports that ACODE Deputy Executive Director Onesmus Mugyenyi has argued Uganda’s forest crisis is driven less by gaps in law than by weak implementation. In the final part of the outlet’s Green Exclusives interview, Mugyenyi said Uganda already has policies, legislation, strategies and international commitments for forest protection, but enforcement institutions often lack sufficient funding, accountability and capacity.

According to the interview, Mugyenyi identified corruption, inadequate financing and limited citizen involvement as central obstacles. He also pointed to elite capture, saying powerful actors can gain disproportionate access to valuable natural resources while communities living near forests see few benefits. He said this weakens incentives for local people to support conservation and called for stronger transparency, accountability and benefit-sharing.

The Nile Post article cites pressure on forests in West Nile and Karamoja as examples of continuing degradation. Mugyenyi mentioned Zoka Central Forest Reserve in Adjumani District and the Agoro-Agu landscape, linking pressures in West Nile to charcoal production, illegal logging, demand for wood resources in refugee-hosting areas, farming expansion and weak enforcement. In Karamoja, he cited drought, overgrazing, wildfires, poverty, resource competition and unresolved settlement issues in forest reserves.

Mugyenyi warned that continued degradation could worsen water insecurity, agricultural productivity and climate vulnerability over the next decade. He said communities need practical livelihood alternatives to activities such as charcoal burning and logging, and suggested forestry could learn from benefit-sharing models used in some wildlife-protected areas. Nile Post also reports that he called for environmental protection to be included in refugee-response planning, with government leadership supported by development partners and the wider international community.