Nkalwe peasants wage war against forest encroachers
May 10, 2009
IF a government official invited local people to discuss environmental issues, chances are only a handful would turn up. But when Rodgers Lubega, the local council chairperson of Nkalwe village in Rakai district, directed his people to plant trees and gua
By Gerald Tenywa
IF a government official invited local people to discuss environmental issues, chances are only a handful would turn up. But when Rodgers Lubega, the local council chairperson of Nkalwe village in Rakai district, directed his people to plant trees and guard the forest on Sango Bay from encroachers, they all complied.
Lubega’s group, which had been felling trees and causing destruction to the forest, could not explain this change of heart until the trustees of the National Forestry Authority (NFA) visited Nkalwe recently.
“It used to be a cat-and-mouse race between the locals and the Government officials responsible for protecting the forests. This has since changed. They now guard the forest and plant trees on their land,†says Lubega.
He says they no longer rely on distant forest guards to check illegal activities. He says they only allow a few people to collect medicinal plants from the forest.
“The people of Nkalwe believe they are in a better position to keep encroachers and illegal loggers off the forest since they know it better,†he says.
As a result, the thinly spread foresters have realised much more than those in areas where communities remain isolated from the work of the forestry body.
This has helped mend relations between the locals and the Government officials who were initially seen as ruthless tormentors.
The foresters were suspicious of the local communities since illegal loggers would easily mingle with them and conceal the illegal activities.
In its conservation mission, Lubega’s group is also embracing tree planting on private and communal land holdings.
They took Baguma Isoke, the chairperson of NFA’s trustees, and his team on a tour of some plantations and tree nurseries.
The group is also building an office on the land housing their tree nursery.
Since trees mature after decades, Lubega’s group has secured its future. Some members of the group brag that tree planting is their security in old age.
To reduce the anxiety of waiting for trees to mature, the group is involved in income generating like passion fruit growing and rearing of bees.
Participatory forest management
Fiona Driciru, a community partnership specialist, defines participatory forest management as a strategy to manage some of the central forest reserves.
The communities are allowed to use the forest without depleting its resources.
This creates a framework where communities ‘own’ the forests and easily recognise the link between conservation and development.
It has replaced the command-and-control system where, for decades, government officials engaged in running battles with local communities to keep them off the forests.
The disadvantage of this approach was that the communities felt left out and thus avenged by abetting forest destruction.
Driciru says the new forest policy and law support collaborative forest management.
The NFA gives guidelines for the implementing and creating capacity (sensitising and mobilising with legally recognised groups).
Impressive results
Dr Mukadasi Buyinza, a lecturer at Makerere University Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, was impressed by the development at Nkalwe.
“My spirit was lifted. I believe the future is bright,†he says.
Buyinza says the group epitomises the ideals of putting people at the centre of conservation.â€
This was understandable since the team saw more tree stumps than growing trees where they had made stop-overs.
The destruction of forests in Mukono, Wakiso and Mpigi districts had caused Mukadasi despair, but that was before the expedition to Nkalwe.
Mukadasi, also a trustee of NFA was part of the team that was led by Baguma on a four-day tour of selected forests around the shores of Lake Victoria.
Origin of Nkalwe group
The group started in 2000 with 32 members,but this has grown to 100. The forestry department, working with United Nations Development Programme cross-border programme, started the initiative for the Sango Bay area, which stretches up to northern Tanzania.
When the Forestry Department folded in 2004 and the UNDP cross-border programme ended, NFA took over the group. They entered into an agreement with Nkalwe group to share responsibilities.
However, Driciru says an NGO, Empowering Civil Society for Participatory Management, helped to build the internal capacity of some groups like Nkalwe over the past three years.
She says the law is silent on sharing of revenue from the forest reserves, but NFA provides support in incentives amounting to sh5m for enterprises like bee-keeping and tree-planting.
“We also earmark areas under collaborative forest management to benefit local communities,†she says.
Another incentive is exemption from paying ground rent, free tree seedlings and allocating 5% of forest plantation to communities to plant trees.
“When they impound illegal timber, they get a percentage from the proceeds,†she says.
Asked whether the communities were not giving too much and getting little in return, Driciru says: “A study should be done on how much NFA saves by involving the community to maintain the boundary and contain illegal activities.
After this, the organisation will be more informed on the incentives.â€
She says improved relations, legalised access to resources and the fact that communities like Nkalwe can manage their own affairs to reduce conflicts, shows the future is bright.
Baguma thanked residents for their good work. “We have come to learn and you have excelled compared to other groups,†Baguma says. “We now have pillars that will help us conserve the forests.â€
Could this be the time for all citizens to stand up for the environment?
IF a government official invited local people to discuss environmental issues, chances are only a handful would turn up. But when Rodgers Lubega, the local council chairperson of Nkalwe village in Rakai district, directed his people to plant trees and guard the forest on Sango Bay from encroachers, they all complied.
Lubega’s group, which had been felling trees and causing destruction to the forest, could not explain this change of heart until the trustees of the National Forestry Authority (NFA) visited Nkalwe recently.
“It used to be a cat-and-mouse race between the locals and the Government officials responsible for protecting the forests. This has since changed. They now guard the forest and plant trees on their land,†says Lubega.
He says they no longer rely on distant forest guards to check illegal activities. He says they only allow a few people to collect medicinal plants from the forest.
“The people of Nkalwe believe they are in a better position to keep encroachers and illegal loggers off the forest since they know it better,†he says.
As a result, the thinly spread foresters have realised much more than those in areas where communities remain isolated from the work of the forestry body.
This has helped mend relations between the locals and the Government officials who were initially seen as ruthless tormentors.
The foresters were suspicious of the local communities since illegal loggers would easily mingle with them and conceal the illegal activities.
In its conservation mission, Lubega’s group is also embracing tree planting on private and communal land holdings.
They took Baguma Isoke, the chairperson of NFA’s trustees, and his team on a tour of some plantations and tree nurseries.
The group is also building an office on the land housing their tree nursery.
Since trees mature after decades, Lubega’s group has secured its future. Some members of the group brag that tree planting is their security in old age.
To reduce the anxiety of waiting for trees to mature, the group is involved in income generating like passion fruit growing and rearing of bees.
Participatory forest management
Fiona Driciru, a community partnership specialist, defines participatory forest management as a strategy to manage some of the central forest reserves.
The communities are allowed to use the forest without depleting its resources.
This creates a framework where communities ‘own’ the forests and easily recognise the link between conservation and development.
It has replaced the command-and-control system where, for decades, government officials engaged in running battles with local communities to keep them off the forests.
The disadvantage of this approach was that the communities felt left out and thus avenged by abetting forest destruction.
Driciru says the new forest policy and law support collaborative forest management.
The NFA gives guidelines for the implementing and creating capacity (sensitising and mobilising with legally recognised groups).
Impressive results
Dr Mukadasi Buyinza, a lecturer at Makerere University Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, was impressed by the development at Nkalwe.
“My spirit was lifted. I believe the future is bright,†he says.
Buyinza says the group epitomises the ideals of putting people at the centre of conservation.â€
This was understandable since the team saw more tree stumps than growing trees where they had made stop-overs.
The destruction of forests in Mukono, Wakiso and Mpigi districts had caused Mukadasi despair, but that was before the expedition to Nkalwe.
Mukadasi, also a trustee of NFA was part of the team that was led by Baguma on a four-day tour of selected forests around the shores of Lake Victoria.
Origin of Nkalwe group
The group started in 2000 with 32 members,but this has grown to 100. The forestry department, working with United Nations Development Programme cross-border programme, started the initiative for the Sango Bay area, which stretches up to northern Tanzania.
When the Forestry Department folded in 2004 and the UNDP cross-border programme ended, NFA took over the group. They entered into an agreement with Nkalwe group to share responsibilities.
However, Driciru says an NGO, Empowering Civil Society for Participatory Management, helped to build the internal capacity of some groups like Nkalwe over the past three years.
She says the law is silent on sharing of revenue from the forest reserves, but NFA provides support in incentives amounting to sh5m for enterprises like bee-keeping and tree-planting.
“We also earmark areas under collaborative forest management to benefit local communities,†she says.
Another incentive is exemption from paying ground rent, free tree seedlings and allocating 5% of forest plantation to communities to plant trees.
“When they impound illegal timber, they get a percentage from the proceeds,†she says.
Asked whether the communities were not giving too much and getting little in return, Driciru says: “A study should be done on how much NFA saves by involving the community to maintain the boundary and contain illegal activities.
After this, the organisation will be more informed on the incentives.â€
She says improved relations, legalised access to resources and the fact that communities like Nkalwe can manage their own affairs to reduce conflicts, shows the future is bright.
Baguma thanked residents for their good work. “We have come to learn and you have excelled compared to other groups,†Baguma says. “We now have pillars that will help us conserve the forests.â€
Could this be the time for all citizens to stand up for the environment?