Deforestation worries Bunyoro leaders
May 22, 2012
Masindi district leaders have expressed concern over the high rate of forest depletion in Bunyoro sub-region. They observed that many people from within and outside the district cut down trees indiscriminately, thus posing an environmental threat to the area.
By Oyet Okwera
Masindi district leaders have expressed concern over the high rate of forest depletion in Bunyoro sub-region.
They observed that many people from within and outside the district cut down trees indiscriminately, thus posing an environmental threat to the area.
The district Woman MP, Jalia Bintu Lukumu, said Budongo Forest, which is the pride of Bunyoro, has been dangerously encroached on.
She observed that the cutting down of trees had contributed to climate change in the region and Uganda at large.
Bintu called upon the district leaders to spearhead tree-planting projects.
She lamented that the current status of tree cover in Masindi district was about 30% with a whooping 70% already depleted.
Bintu noted that tree depletion in Bunyoro sub-region was fuelled by rampant charcoal burning.
She made the remarks during the launch of a project dubbed: “Greening Masindi” at Kayera Primary School, where Mukwano Group of Companies provided tree seedlings.
Other schools that got seedlings were Kimengo, Kinuma, Bigando, Nyakatoke, Kigezi and Kijunjubwa primary schools in Masindi.
Bintu said statistics indicate that about 10,000 people are engaged in charcoal burning in Masindi.
Mukwano Group’s public relations liaison officer Allen Onzima urged head teachers of the beneficiary schools to ensure sustainability of the project.
He said this can be done by forming taskforces comprised of teachers, pupils and local communities to protect the seedlings from destruction.
Onzima promised that Mukwano Group would continue supporting Bunyoro’s environmental conservation and tree-planting projects.