NFA | UBL | TREES | REPLANTED

Through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Forestry Authority (NFA) and Uganda Baati Limited (UBL), 40 hectares of indigenous trees will be replanted across the country.

Under the Every Tree Counts Campaign, these trees will total 10 hectares per region in the areas of Bajo Central Forest Reserve in Kayunga District, Namatale Central Forest Reserve in Sironko District, Lokiragado Central Forest Reserve in Arua and Mubuku Central Forest Reserve in Kasese District.

Citing the current statistics of the NFA, Paul Musamali, the acting executive director at the authority, said the country is likely to lose all of its forests in the next 25 years, noting that the repercussions of these actions are clear to see.

“Besides the landscape being almost completely devoid of trees, the dry season has become longer and filled with more droughts, loose soil has caused heavy rainfall to turn into deadly floods, and crops are producing less and less yield,” he noted.

He further mentioned that in the 1900s, the forest cover was at 53%, and by 1990, it had reduced to 24%; and to 12% in 2017, citing that Uganda had lost over 2.4 million hectares of forest cover.

Musamali added: “In 2019, there was a slight recovery in forest cover to 13%, saying that this partnership between Uganda Baati and NFA under the corporate forest restoration initiative, is a step in the right direction, and we thank the leadership of Uganda Baati for the continued partnership to combat climate change."

The Uganda Baati Board Chairman, Dr. Alan Shonubi, emphasized that the company is committed to leading the way in reducing the impact of climate change.

“We believe that environmental protection is the only way we can safeguard our future. The situation will get worse if we do nothing. "But we can do something about it before it's too late,” Shonubi added.

“The Company is guided by four key focus social investment pillars that include: environment, Shelter, Health, and Education. Today’s event falls under the Environment pillar and this initiative will contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specifically SDG 13 (Climate Change) and SDG 17 (Partnerships),” he said.

George Arodi, the business head at Uganda Baati Limited, said as a company, they deeply care about the people and communities in which they operate and live by the values of being a responsible and involved corporate citizen.