Two more forests disappear in Mpigi

By John Kasozi

WANTAI and Katabalalu forests in Mpigi district are no more, while half of Buvuma forest has been destroyed. The 236 ha of Wantai and the 1,025 ha of Katabalalu, that were once a hide-out for the National Resistance Army, have almost totally disappeared.

“When I took up my position last year, Wantai was already degraded. Now, only 25ha is left of Katabalalu, while half of the 1,900 ha of Buvuma is gone,” said Esther Nekesa of the National Forestry Authority (NFA).

Nekesa is the supervisor of the Lwamunda Beat Central Forest Reserve. Located in Kiringente and Muduma sub-counties, Lwamunda Reserve is made up of four forests: Lwamunda, Buvuma, Wantai and Katabalalu, totaling 7,255ha. Of those, 5,400 ha of forest cover have been destroyed, according to NFA.

The forestry body claims the widespread forest degradation has been facilitated by the arrival of the mobile phones.
Both the illegal loggers and the extractors of sand – used as clay to make bricks – carry out their activities at dusk and dawn, keeping each other informed by telephone.

“The loggers and the community have created a network that monitors the movement of NFA officials. They know our means of transport and the routes we use,” explained Nekesa.
Children, youngsters and old people take turn standing on the outlook for officers, communicating to each other by yelling when an officer is in sight until the alarm reaches the poachers.

“At times, a bodaboda man with a loud engine is put on standby. As soon as he spots an officer, he rides along the forest village trail as the noise signals to the poachers to take off,” added Nathan Mubiru, one of the patrolling officers. “It’s a well organised community cartel.”

In the unlikely event that the loggers are caught, they assemble and resist as a group. “They erect pit-saw beds close to each other so that they can take on the law enforcement officers together when they come to arrest them. Each bed can contain about five people,” Nekesa said. She recalled an incidence where loggers from Kyewaga roughed up the sector manager.

The forests undergo different stages of degrading, beginning with timber logging, charcoal burning and firewood collection before the land is finally opened up for nakati and other crops.

When The New Vision visited the site, illegal logging was going on in Tiribogo forest, one of the four forests in Lwamunda reserve. The local community had hired Bakiga pit-sawyers from Western Uganda to fell trees. The loggers fled in disarray when the team arrived. Over 20 mature trees, gazetted by NFA, had already been cut down. They included Namukago, Musizi, Kirundu, Nkalati and Ntasesa trees.

NFA attributes the disappearing of the forests to the rapid growing population in the area, the high demand for forest products timber, billets, firewood and charcoal, and the short distance – just 30km – to Kampala.

Modern equipment has also accelerated the forest loss. The pit-sawyers now use powered chain-saws to fell the trees and cut them into market pellets using pit saws.

At times they rip them into off-cut shapes before taken to their destinations in Kampala suburbs such as Nateete, Busega, Bwaise, Ndeeba and Mulago-Kubiri.

Asked why they continue degrading the forests, the locals said “big people from Kampala” were responsible. Others argued that if the Government was ready to give away 7,100 ha of Mabira Forest to one investor “why should we be stopped from using our forests?”
Lack of personnel is another problem NFA is facing. The Lwamunda sector has only two employees - a sector manager and a forest supervisor- and three back-up patrolling officers to monitor an area of 13,433 ha.

“We are understaffed. That is why there is rampant forest degradation. Three of us ride on one motorcycle when we are going for an operation to arrest the poachers,” narrated Nekesa. “With this mode of transport, how can you arrest and carry the culprits to the police station? It has become a game of hide-and-see.”

As the community continues to cut trees, encroachers are moving in, using some of the land to grow bangi, a local drug.
In an attempt to stop encroaching, NFA has embarked upon a re-forestation programme. About 1,500 ha of degraded Lwamunda forestland have been earmarked for this, half of which has already been leased out.

Twenty lease permits have been given out to selected farmers for periods ranging from 30 to 50 years.
But some new seedlings have already been uprooted by local people. And re-forestation is slow. While it takes only a few hours to cut a tree, it takes years to grow a new one. Moreover, the number of trees planted cannot offset the number of trees cut. Of the 5,400 ha destroyed, only 365 ha have been re-planted.

Already, the widespread logging is affecting the region. The Lwamundu forests follow valley streams that feed water into River Kato Mayanja and ultimately into Lake Victoria.
“A number of streams and springs are drying up. Water scarcity is knocking,” says Nekesa.

“The water we now use is collected from far springs. It costs sh300 for a 20-litre jerry-can. If the current environmental vandalism continues, a jerry-can will soon be fetched at sh500.”