UNDP donates to save environment
Feb 24, 2008
THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has given Uganda $3,395m (about sh5.8b) for conservation. The funds were channeled through the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Ministry of Water and Environment to implement a biodiversity conservation project in the Albertine Rift Forests of
By Arthur Baguma
THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has given Uganda $3,395m (about sh5.8b) for conservation. The funds were channeled through the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Ministry of Water and Environment to implement a biodiversity conservation project in the Albertine Rift Forests of Uganda.
The project will promote better management of forests on private land by communities in Hoima, Masindi and Kibale disricts.
About $267,347 was used to procure project equipment, including the vehicles and motorcycles which were handed over last Monday by the UNDP resident representative in Uganda, Theophane Nikyema.
Nikyema said UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2008-2011 puts priority on environment in general and biodiversity conservation in particular. He added that the project fits within the Government of Uganda priorities for biodiversity conservation.
The UNDP environment specialist, Justin Ecaat, said the Albertine Rift Eco-Region is the most important forest system in Africa in terms of biodiversity, extending across the Great Lakes Region of East and Central Africa (DRC, Uganda, Tanzania,Rwanda, Burundi.
Ecaat, however, noted that the forests have been under increasing threat from the growing commercial demands and from rural communities whose high levels of poverty make them dependent on forest resources for their livelihood.
The project will be implemented by WWF with the support of UNDP. It will be funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in partnership with the environment ministry through its directorate of environmental affairs.
The project activities will include support to collaborative forest management, capacity strengthening for the National Forestry Authority to improve management of central forest reserves, strengthening and maintaining linkages between the protected areas.
This will be done by offering incentives for forest conservation on private land, and promoting incentives for alternative resource use strategies and conservation on private lands.
The Albertine Rift Eco-Region is the most important forest system in Africa for biodiversity, extending across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The pressures on the forest resources, coupled with weak conservation agencies at decentralised levels, and collaborative management strategies with local people, have led to considerable loss of forest cover on private and public land.
The three-year project will provide additional resources to the Government and its partners to implement innovative conservation activities.
THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has given Uganda $3,395m (about sh5.8b) for conservation. The funds were channeled through the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Ministry of Water and Environment to implement a biodiversity conservation project in the Albertine Rift Forests of Uganda.
The project will promote better management of forests on private land by communities in Hoima, Masindi and Kibale disricts.
About $267,347 was used to procure project equipment, including the vehicles and motorcycles which were handed over last Monday by the UNDP resident representative in Uganda, Theophane Nikyema.
Nikyema said UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2008-2011 puts priority on environment in general and biodiversity conservation in particular. He added that the project fits within the Government of Uganda priorities for biodiversity conservation.
The UNDP environment specialist, Justin Ecaat, said the Albertine Rift Eco-Region is the most important forest system in Africa in terms of biodiversity, extending across the Great Lakes Region of East and Central Africa (DRC, Uganda, Tanzania,Rwanda, Burundi.
Ecaat, however, noted that the forests have been under increasing threat from the growing commercial demands and from rural communities whose high levels of poverty make them dependent on forest resources for their livelihood.
The project will be implemented by WWF with the support of UNDP. It will be funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in partnership with the environment ministry through its directorate of environmental affairs.
The project activities will include support to collaborative forest management, capacity strengthening for the National Forestry Authority to improve management of central forest reserves, strengthening and maintaining linkages between the protected areas.
This will be done by offering incentives for forest conservation on private land, and promoting incentives for alternative resource use strategies and conservation on private lands.
The Albertine Rift Eco-Region is the most important forest system in Africa for biodiversity, extending across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The pressures on the forest resources, coupled with weak conservation agencies at decentralised levels, and collaborative management strategies with local people, have led to considerable loss of forest cover on private and public land.
The three-year project will provide additional resources to the Government and its partners to implement innovative conservation activities.