Government hailed over Mabira forest
May 20, 2010
AN international environmental NGO has hailed the Government decision to halt cutting down Mabira forest for sugar cane growing.
By Darious Magara
AN international environmental NGO has hailed the Government decision to halt cutting down Mabira forest for sugar cane growing.
The experts from Togo, South Africa, Mauritius, Tunisia and Swaziland, under Friends of the Earth Africa, are in Uganda to discuss issues on water, oil exploitation and mining.
The visit is co-ordinated by the National Association of Professional Environ-mentalists (NAPE) and Earth worldwide that is based in the Netherlands.
“You mean this was to go? That would have been very bad. How could Uganda afford to lose this beauty and great biodiversity in Mabira? George Awudi, a Nigerian and the chairman of Friends of the Earth Africa said on Wednesday during a tour of Mabira.
He said forests such as Mabira were few on the continent and urged governments and the people in Africa to jealously guard them.
“Mabira and such forests on the continent are invaluable. You can’t measure its worth in terms of money and it take millions of years to establish if destroyed†Awudi said.
The experts observed that the civil society demonstration that thwarted the Government plan to allocate part of the forest to sugar cane growing was justified.
Eight people died in the demonstrations as they clashed with the Police in Kampala city.
Locals and tour guides who conducted the visitors into the forest said they derive their livelihood from the forest through extracting medicine, food, wood and through the crafts they make form forest materials.
Mabira forest covers over 30,000 hectares and is globally recognised by BirdLife as a vital bird habitat. It contains over 12% of plant species and 30% of bird species found in Uganda.
AN international environmental NGO has hailed the Government decision to halt cutting down Mabira forest for sugar cane growing.
The experts from Togo, South Africa, Mauritius, Tunisia and Swaziland, under Friends of the Earth Africa, are in Uganda to discuss issues on water, oil exploitation and mining.
The visit is co-ordinated by the National Association of Professional Environ-mentalists (NAPE) and Earth worldwide that is based in the Netherlands.
“You mean this was to go? That would have been very bad. How could Uganda afford to lose this beauty and great biodiversity in Mabira? George Awudi, a Nigerian and the chairman of Friends of the Earth Africa said on Wednesday during a tour of Mabira.
He said forests such as Mabira were few on the continent and urged governments and the people in Africa to jealously guard them.
“Mabira and such forests on the continent are invaluable. You can’t measure its worth in terms of money and it take millions of years to establish if destroyed†Awudi said.
The experts observed that the civil society demonstration that thwarted the Government plan to allocate part of the forest to sugar cane growing was justified.
Eight people died in the demonstrations as they clashed with the Police in Kampala city.
Locals and tour guides who conducted the visitors into the forest said they derive their livelihood from the forest through extracting medicine, food, wood and through the crafts they make form forest materials.
Mabira forest covers over 30,000 hectares and is globally recognised by BirdLife as a vital bird habitat. It contains over 12% of plant species and 30% of bird species found in Uganda.