THE damage of cutting away part of Mabira Forest in terms of carbon credit is estimated at $316m. The value of the land is estimated at about $5m and the value of the wood at another $568m.
That means the Ugandan public stands to lose almost $890m (about 1.5 trillion shillings) as a result of the Government’s plan to degazette part of the forest.
This was calculated by the experts of the Environmental Alert, one of four environmental groups that have launched a massive campaign to stop the proposed give-away.
The New Vision last week broke the story that the Cabinet was in the process of giving 7.100 ha of the forest to a private investor, the Mehta Group, to turn it into a sugarcane plantation. Both the Cabinet and Parliament still have to approve the move.
But environmental groups warn the impact would be enormous. “The biomass of Mabira, the total weight of all trees, shrubs and grasses, is estimated at 300 tonnes per hectare,” explains Dorothy Kaggwa of the Environmental Alert. “That is an equivalent of 550 tonnes of carbondioxide absorbed per hectare per year.”
Carbondioxide emissions from factories, cars and planes trap the heat from escaping from the earth, leading to global warming. The Kyoto Protocol and the UN Convention on Climate Change, to both of which Uganda is a signatory, oblige countries to stay within certain carbondioxide limits. Manufacturers who exceed those limits can choose between installing costly remedy mechanisms or compensate by paying for planting trees or maintaining existing forests elsewhere, the so-called carbon credit.
“On the international market, the price of carbon credit stands at $81 per tonne,” says Kaggwa. When you calculate that for 7.100 hectares (of the proposed Mabira give-away), you arrive at $316,305.000.”
She stressed that this does not include the cost of addressing the health problems as a result of global warming. Environmental Alert also points at other factors, which cannot be valued in monetary terms.
“Mabira provides a habitat for many species of plants and animals, including 312 trees and shrub species, 287 species of birds, 16 small mammals and 199 species of butterflies. There are also 97 species of large moths,” says the organisation’s campaign leaflet.
“It has wild robusta coffee, dioscoria tubers, yams and other plants whose value is unknown.” And being the only large forest in the bio-geographical zone of the Lake Victoria Crescent, it “provides the only watershed for this already water stressed area.”
Meanwhile, the Save Mabira Forest campaign is gaining momentum, with thousands of people sending in petitions.
Environmental Alert, together with Nature Uganda, Greenwatch and Advocates Coalition for Development and the Environment are calling upon the public to write to their representatives in Parliament not to degazette Mabira and to send back petition forms.
The former public relations officer of Mehta, former MP Anthony Kanyike, has embarked on his own crusade to save the forest. He says he has collected over 13,000 signatures from Buikwe county alone.
“I am a very strong supporter of the NRM government policy,” he writes in an open letter to the Prime Minster. “I have no problem with the business plan of the Mehta Group.” But on Mabira, for the sake of peaceful co-existence between the company and the local population, he recommends “hands off.”
The campaign hotlines are 077 2 578414 or 077 2 680686.
Meanwhile, large fields of sugarcane on the estate of the Mehta-run Sugar Corporation of Uganda (SCOUL) were burned down on Monday night in mysterious circumstances. The company’s spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.
But the LC3 chairman for Nagojje, Simon Ochwo, said the fire could have been lit by the company’s workers, who had been idle following the recent closure of the factory for repairs.
He also said residents had been angry over the proposed Mabira give-away. “We want SCOUL because it has provided employment to some of the area residents. But people are not happy with the decision to give away the forest for sugarcane cultivation,” Ochwo said.
