Environmentalists want gov't commitment on tree fund

Environmentalists are demanding government to commit its self on the operationalisation of the tree fund.

The tree fund which is set up by Section 40 of the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2003 has since not been operationalized due to lack of government's commitment.

Paul Mafabi the director of the Directorate of Environmental Affairs while officiating at an inception workshop to launch the feasibility study for the operation of the fund stressed that government needs to inject about sh3b into the tree fund as assign of commitment towards implementation of the fund.

Mafabi emphasized that given the fact that Uganda is losing a lot of forests especially on private land and climate change becoming a very big issue, to address this requires a lot of resources.

"Our vision is that this fund will help us to mobilize resources to provide an incentive for the private sector and local communities to engage in planting trees, but also be able to manage and adapt against effects of climate change, "he said.

The launch of the feasibility study organized in conjunction with the Ministry of Water & Environment and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Kampala, was aimed at sharing experiences globally and neighbouring countries like Rwanda which has got a similar fund.

He said environmentalists are planning to finalize the feasibility study and be able to establish the fund before the end of this calendar year.

He explained that some of the requirements of the fund are to be flexible to support communities, put in place a good governance structure, and be independent to attract funding both from government and private sector and individuals.

Mafabi however noted that the fund has delayed because of the certain procedures which include consulting the Ministry of Finance on how it can affect the macroeconomic structure of the country and the tax regime to avoid economic instability.

"Within this financial year, we would like to start its implementation but we need seed funding and our target is sh2b to sh3b to set up the required institutional structure, "he said.

He revealed that over the last ten years, Uganda has lost about 900,000ha of forests yet have only planted 100,000ha leaving a big gap of 800,000ha but  in order to restore all these forests a lot of funds are needed.  

"At the moment if one wants to plant trees he or she has to wait for the Ministry of Finance to release money or some donors. That is why we advocate having a predictable financing for tree planting which is not dependent on donors, rain or sunshine," he said.

He observed that this fund is going to provide financial stability that is needed so that issue of funds gets out of the way and only look for materials to plant on a large scale.  

Gershom Onyango the NFA chairman observed a need to have a dedicated fund to look into tree planting to support the government programs.

He said that as much as there are several funds doing tree planting but they lack coordination to attract national funding.

He noted that as much as NFA would be able to handle such work, but its mandate is limited to central forest reserves yet the fund needs to support places outside central forest reserves.

Patrick Mutimura the coordinator of Rwanda's green fund, FONERWA, said their fund has greatly created employment.

"About 90,498 green jobs are created by the fund, 35,356ha of forest land rehabilitated and 12,998ha of watersheds and water bodies rehabilitated," he said.

He added that the fund has also improved climate resilience and livelihood with 18,914 families connected to off-grid energy.