No amount of sugar can equal Mabira value
Oct 24, 2006
DEAR President Yoweri Museveni, as your government contemplates tearing down part of the beautiful Mabira Forest Reserve to grow sugarcane, I have a request to make. <br>
OPIYO OLOYA
PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA
DEAR President Yoweri Museveni, as your government contemplates tearing down part of the beautiful Mabira Forest Reserve to grow sugarcane, I have a request to make.
Please consider the following glowing endorsement of Uganda written by a British tourist in 2003, and posted on the internet to serve as “word-of-mouth†to spread news of Uganda’s biodiversity, thereby increasing tourist traffic to the country:
“Uganda is an ecotourist’s dreamland — abundant birdlife (over 1000 species in a country the size of Great Britain), large numbers of big game, unrivalled primate watching, an extensive network of well-managed reserves protecting an incredibly wide range of habitats from high to low altitude rain forests and wetlands to dry savanna, some superb accommodations and wonderfully friendly people....â€
Mr. President, from a purely environmental point of view, there are very few comparable forests in the world today that offer such rich biodiversity as Mabira Forest does. As the single largest block of moist semi-deciduous forest remaining in central Uganda, the forest is home to rare ancient hardwood, and some of the world’s rarest species of plants and animals. It is home to over 300 bird species including dwindling species such as Nahan’s Francolin and the Cassin’s hawk-eagle. That does not even take into account the fact that Mabira is one of the few remaining habitats to the Grey-cheeked mangabey monkey and rare plant species such as Caesalpinia volkensii.
Now, whoever first broached the idea of carving up this jewel of conservation was thinking very short term. From a dollar sense of the equation, no amount of sugarcane can ever come close to generating even one-hundredth of economic value that Uganda will gain by keeping the forest intact.
A ground-breaking cost-benefit study conducted by Dr Robin Naidoo (currently with the World Wildlife Fund) and Dr Wiktor Adamowicz, from the University of Alberta’s Department of Rural Economy, on the economic viability of Mabira Forest as a wildlife habitat, found that the higher the number of bird species, the more tourists would be willing to pay to visit the area.
The study published in the November 2005 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that forest conservation provides tangible monetary benefits to the local population and the national coffers.
Incidentally, this very same study which was carried out at Mabira has been quickly seized by forward-looking economies such as Canada to create smarter policies on forest conservation and the promotion of eco-tourism. Furthermore, with global pollution reaching crisis proportion, smarter forward-thinking nations now look at forests as the next big thing after oil.
In not too distant a future, nations with swaths of forests will be able to negotiate cold hard cash as fair compensation for contributing toward global clean air. The implication being that cutting down natural forests like Mabira is not just an economic loss to Uganda, but a gigantic environmental loss to humanity, period. Now, if Uganda’s plan is to seriously create investment opportunities for sugar manufacturers that will catapult into a significant player in world sugar export, then there are many viable alternatives to destroying Mabira Forest Reserve. For one, new sugar plantations can be created elsewhere other than in the Jinja area.
Spreading out sugarcane production to small cooperatives farmers, say in Bunyoro or Apac or Ntungamo or Arua, not only provides greater employment opportunities to many people, but increases productivity. Collection depots for initial processing to extract the juice from the cane could be built across Uganda.
Large tankers similar to those used for carrying water and milk would then transport the liquid syrup to the larger established refinery for final processing into the white sugar sold in stores.
Secondly, Mr. President, instead of degrading this precious nature’s reserve in the name of sugar plantations, Uganda should become a world-leader in researching the potential for growing tropical sugar-beet. As you well know, sugar beet which is a temperate crop has a huge advantage over sugarcane because it uses less water (120 cm compared to 200 cm) and could be grown throughout the year anywhere in Uganda. Moreover, by weight, beet produces more sugar than cane. From an investment point of view, according to technical experts, it would cost relatively little money to adapt the current cane technology into beet processing factories.
Indeed, trials are already being conducted in India and Australia by Syngenta, a leading sugar-producer, for the first commercial tropical sugar beet crops. Uganda must get aboard the train before it leaves the station. Mr. President, this win-win scenario is further sweetened when one factors in infrastructure renewal such as new and better roads, bigger commercial buildings, community centres and so forth. Such an operation would also stimulate other secondary economic impetus for the country including food production to feed the cane workers, commerce and many more.
Mr. President, Uganda must adopt the mantra ‘Gifted by Nature’ coined by business leaders, entrepreneurs and civil society to promote Uganda to the world. The old thinking of development that required the uprooting of trees to give way to tall skyscrapers or acres of sweet nothing should be replaced by thoughtful conservation measures that consider the long term benefits to generations still unborn.
In very plain language, destroying Mabira Forest Reserve to make room for sugarcane plantation is a poorly thought-out idea that blindly highlights the short-term profits (for the few) without considering the long-term social and economic benefits (to the majority). Do the right thing!
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca
PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA
DEAR President Yoweri Museveni, as your government contemplates tearing down part of the beautiful Mabira Forest Reserve to grow sugarcane, I have a request to make.
Please consider the following glowing endorsement of Uganda written by a British tourist in 2003, and posted on the internet to serve as “word-of-mouth†to spread news of Uganda’s biodiversity, thereby increasing tourist traffic to the country:
“Uganda is an ecotourist’s dreamland — abundant birdlife (over 1000 species in a country the size of Great Britain), large numbers of big game, unrivalled primate watching, an extensive network of well-managed reserves protecting an incredibly wide range of habitats from high to low altitude rain forests and wetlands to dry savanna, some superb accommodations and wonderfully friendly people....â€
Mr. President, from a purely environmental point of view, there are very few comparable forests in the world today that offer such rich biodiversity as Mabira Forest does. As the single largest block of moist semi-deciduous forest remaining in central Uganda, the forest is home to rare ancient hardwood, and some of the world’s rarest species of plants and animals. It is home to over 300 bird species including dwindling species such as Nahan’s Francolin and the Cassin’s hawk-eagle. That does not even take into account the fact that Mabira is one of the few remaining habitats to the Grey-cheeked mangabey monkey and rare plant species such as Caesalpinia volkensii.
Now, whoever first broached the idea of carving up this jewel of conservation was thinking very short term. From a dollar sense of the equation, no amount of sugarcane can ever come close to generating even one-hundredth of economic value that Uganda will gain by keeping the forest intact.
A ground-breaking cost-benefit study conducted by Dr Robin Naidoo (currently with the World Wildlife Fund) and Dr Wiktor Adamowicz, from the University of Alberta’s Department of Rural Economy, on the economic viability of Mabira Forest as a wildlife habitat, found that the higher the number of bird species, the more tourists would be willing to pay to visit the area.
The study published in the November 2005 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that forest conservation provides tangible monetary benefits to the local population and the national coffers.
Incidentally, this very same study which was carried out at Mabira has been quickly seized by forward-looking economies such as Canada to create smarter policies on forest conservation and the promotion of eco-tourism. Furthermore, with global pollution reaching crisis proportion, smarter forward-thinking nations now look at forests as the next big thing after oil.
In not too distant a future, nations with swaths of forests will be able to negotiate cold hard cash as fair compensation for contributing toward global clean air. The implication being that cutting down natural forests like Mabira is not just an economic loss to Uganda, but a gigantic environmental loss to humanity, period. Now, if Uganda’s plan is to seriously create investment opportunities for sugar manufacturers that will catapult into a significant player in world sugar export, then there are many viable alternatives to destroying Mabira Forest Reserve. For one, new sugar plantations can be created elsewhere other than in the Jinja area.
Spreading out sugarcane production to small cooperatives farmers, say in Bunyoro or Apac or Ntungamo or Arua, not only provides greater employment opportunities to many people, but increases productivity. Collection depots for initial processing to extract the juice from the cane could be built across Uganda.
Large tankers similar to those used for carrying water and milk would then transport the liquid syrup to the larger established refinery for final processing into the white sugar sold in stores.
Secondly, Mr. President, instead of degrading this precious nature’s reserve in the name of sugar plantations, Uganda should become a world-leader in researching the potential for growing tropical sugar-beet. As you well know, sugar beet which is a temperate crop has a huge advantage over sugarcane because it uses less water (120 cm compared to 200 cm) and could be grown throughout the year anywhere in Uganda. Moreover, by weight, beet produces more sugar than cane. From an investment point of view, according to technical experts, it would cost relatively little money to adapt the current cane technology into beet processing factories.
Indeed, trials are already being conducted in India and Australia by Syngenta, a leading sugar-producer, for the first commercial tropical sugar beet crops. Uganda must get aboard the train before it leaves the station. Mr. President, this win-win scenario is further sweetened when one factors in infrastructure renewal such as new and better roads, bigger commercial buildings, community centres and so forth. Such an operation would also stimulate other secondary economic impetus for the country including food production to feed the cane workers, commerce and many more.
Mr. President, Uganda must adopt the mantra ‘Gifted by Nature’ coined by business leaders, entrepreneurs and civil society to promote Uganda to the world. The old thinking of development that required the uprooting of trees to give way to tall skyscrapers or acres of sweet nothing should be replaced by thoughtful conservation measures that consider the long term benefits to generations still unborn.
In very plain language, destroying Mabira Forest Reserve to make room for sugarcane plantation is a poorly thought-out idea that blindly highlights the short-term profits (for the few) without considering the long-term social and economic benefits (to the majority). Do the right thing!
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca