Uganda forest faces bulldozers, species at risk

By Tim Cocks

MABIRA FOREST (Reuters) - Carpenter Jon Katangole fears he will lose his livelihood when bulldozers come to destroy one of Uganda's last patches of rainforest.

"My timber comes from that forest," he said, pointing to a cluster of trees over a clearing. "If they take it away, I will cease being a carpenter. How am I supposed to live?"

Uganda has suffered violent protests in recent weeks over government plans to give at least 7,100 hectares (17,500 acres) of Mabira Forest, a nature reserve since 1932, to a sugar cane company.

Critics say razing it could devastate a fragile environment, sparking soil erosion, drying up the climate and removing a buffer against pollution for Lake Victoria.

Ugandans living near the forest -- used to accessing its abundant resources -- fear a collapse of their way of life.

"It is everything: firewood, charcoal, herbal medicine, edible fruits, timber, it catches rain and fills rivers. We cannot live without it," said Haruna Salongo, 48, sitting on a stool made from Mabira wood.

Three people were killed in a riot against the plan last month, including an ethnic Indian man stoned to death by rioters. The Mehta Group, to which President Yoweri Museveni is giving the forest, is owned by ethnic Indians.

Mehta was unavailable for comment but director Suresh Sharma told the independent Daily Monitor last month: "We are mindful of the environment. (On the) part of our land not suitable for cane, we plant forest."

MONKEYS, BIRDS

In a study last year, the National Forest Authority (NFA) warned that the proposal threatened wildlife, including rare monkeys and birds.

Nine species found only in Mabira and surrounding forests -- the Tit Hylia bird, six butterflies, a moth and a shrub used to treat malaria -- risked extinction.

As opposition to the sugar plantation grows, with local press saying 80 percent of parliamentarians would vote against it, Museveni has dug his heels in. He argues Uganda must balance the need to protect ecosystems with the need to industrialize.

"It is more difficult for a backward country to guard against environmental degradation than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle," he said in a statement last month.

Increased sugar production would boost jobs, export earnings and tax revenue -- essential if Uganda is to "have money to police and protect the environment," Museveni says.

The environment ministry points out that Uganda loses eight times as much forest as the Mabira giveaway each year to peasants clearing wood for charcoal and farming.

Mabira residents are skeptical of promises of jobs, alluding to the people of Bugala island in Lake Victoria, who were persuaded to give part of their pristine rainforest to a private Kenyan palm oil company, Bidco, last year.

Bidco planted 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of palm, mostly on land covered in forest that the company bulldozed, locals say.

The state agreed to give Bidco 2,000 more hectares of forest land by lifting the protected status of a nature reserve, but this has been held up by public outcry. Former NFA boss Olav Bjella resigned over the issue.

Locals say they lost vital resources like wood, medicines, rope and fresh water, yet never saw any employment or money.

"They promised a lot of things," said Joyce Nakirijja, 70, sitting in her farmyard on Bugala surrounded by banana plants.

"Our grandchildren would have jobs and they would build new roads, schools and hospitals. It was a lie -- we have dirt roads and the company imports workers from the mainland."

Another problem, she said, was that monkeys rendered homeless by deforestation were raiding local crops.

But Bidco Uganda's Managing Director Kodey Rao told Reuters the land it took was mostly grassland. He added that the island's inhabitants were offered a jobs on the plantation.

"They are more comfortable going fishing -- that pays higher than we pay," he said.

Environmental concerns aside, some analysts doubt the economics of sacrificing hardwood forests for the soil underneath.

In an audit last year, the NFA estimated the value of the commercial wood in the area of Mabira requested by Mehta to be at least 284 billion Ugandan shillings ($167 million), based on the assumption of 500 cubic meters in each hectare.

Others say it could be more than double that.

This compares with $11 million from what Mehta projects to be 35,000 tons of cane annually from the land, at current world prices of $300 per ton.

"The wood is worth more than the sugar," said an NFA official, who asked not to be named.