As they talk in Rio, Uganda walks the talk in Mubende

By Ambassadors Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther and Roberto Ridolfi

AS the world prepares to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Earth Summit held in Rio in 1992, impatience is growing on how to translate the international commitments for sustainable development into action.

On June 13, 2012 we went to the field and met with a number of Ugandan actors in Mubende who might be showing us the way towards a "green economy".

There has been a lot of press recently about the Green Economy, climate change and the role that forests play in these matters. The concept of the Green Economy has evolved during the International Year of the Forest in 2011 and particularly during the build-up to the forthcoming RIO+20 gathering.  

Many organisations now have a shared understanding of the concept. At the most basic level, a green economy is one that generates increasing prosperity while maintaining the natural systems that sustain us. It is a powerful idea that promotes green investment with the objective of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

Historically, of course, the trend has not been towards green growth. On the contrary, economic expansion has imposed ever greater demands on natural systems — both in terms of the amount of resources that we extract or harvest, and the volume of emissions and waste that we expect the environment to absorb and neutralise.  

As is increasingly understood, this cannot continue indefinitely: the environment has natural limits in terms of how much it can provide and absorb.

The case of forests resources is illustrative: why are forests important?  It is now widely acknowledged that globally well over a billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods – whether it is for fuelwood, timber and poles, watershed protection or as a store for medicines and food.  

More recently it has been acknowledged that deforestation worldwide is a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions – producing around one-fifth of global CO2 – the main agent responsible for global warming and climate change.  In Uganda it is estimated that 90,000 hectares of forest a year are being lost, under the pressure of demographic growth, economic development, bioenergy consumption, timber demand, and agricultural expansion.

Whilst some deforestation is inevitable as the country develops, Uganda urgently needs to sustainably manage its forest resources in order to prevent irreversible damages to its unique environment and biodiversity.  New tree planting in Uganda is less than 5,000 ha per year so the situation is clearly unsustainable when over 90% of the population depends on bioenergy (firewood and charcoal) for its basic energy needs. So what can we do to reverse this trend?  Large scale tree planting is certainly one way.      

Why are tree plantations Important?  Whilst plantations can never replace natural forests (especially the rich biodiversity of tropical forests), they can produce valuable forest products like timber, poles and fuelwood – in a highly cost-efficient way.  In fact, well managed tree plantations can produce over ten times the utilisable products per unit area compared to the regions’ natural forests.

Large scale tree planting can redress some of the loss of forests in a region but they can do much more.  Fast growing tree plantations store significant amounts of CO2 and can contribute to protect watersheds; their establishment and management provides the much needed  rural employment and – as is being demonstrated in Uganda – they offer an attractive investment opportunity for the private sector.

They thereby contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction: all the key components of the Green Economy. As the plantations mature, they will also start taking the pressure off natural forests to supply the various forest products.

So why did we go to Mubende? There is a tree planting initiative that has been running since 2004 in Uganda called the Sawlog Production Grant Scheme (SPGS).  SPGS is a public-private partnership that has been the catalyst for trees being planted like never before in the region.

With the support of SPGS, over 27,000 hectares of timber plantations have been established to date by over 300 private investors throughout Uganda. Many more hectares have been planted outside of SPGS direct support too, with many people encouraged by the investment environment in Uganda. SPGS is funded by the European Union and the Governments of Uganda and Norway, with about 50 billion Uganda Shillings (approx. 14 million Euros) committed to date.

The SPGS initiative combined with Uganda’s excellent growth conditions has attracted many investors into commercial tree planting since 2004.  

Interest in SPGS continues to increase and there is currently a long waiting list applying for this support.  The SPGS project is a good example of what can be achieved when conditions are established so that private sector is attracted to invest – in this case, into commercial tree planting.    

SPGS has also supported community tree planting: 5,600 people from 137 communities have established 1,800 hectares of tree plantations since 2005.

How Does SPGS Work?  In a nut-shell, SPGS does two main things: it gives financial and technical support to private sector investors to establish and manage commercial tree plantations, primarily for timber and poles (and soon for bioenergy too).

The financial side comes in the form of a planting grant which is conditional on achieving performance (i.e. planting) targets to pre-agreed standards. The SPGS grant of ca.US$350/ha covers around 45% of the total establishment costs for commercial plantations in Uganda.

The technical support SPGS delivers is undoubtedly an important part of its success: it involves giving advice on the best, modern practices for establishing and managing commercial tree plantations, promoting access to improved seedlings, running practical training courses for supervisors and providing support in key research areas.  

SPGS also enforces strict environmental standards, notably by ensuring that tree plantations do not interfere with natural forest or important ecosystems like wetlands.

Under SPGS, the funding from the EU and Norway has been used successfully as a leverage to attract private sector investments and to mobilize communities into commercial tree planting:  in Mubende as a case, we have witnessed the first steps of a new forestry sector and industry that will generate green growth in Uganda.  

Norway and the European Union are committed to support the development of a green economy.  The EU is currently developing a new Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund that will promote socially and environmentally responsible investments in agriculture and agribusiness in Uganda.

At the global level, Norway and the European Union have high ambitions for Rio+20: it is our will to reach an agreement on  a concrete plan of action with new objectives and targets for sustainable development and green growth.  

While the world leaders are negotiating in Rio, Uganda, the European Union and Norway are putting their words into action: with our support, the private entrepreneurs and communities in Mubende and other parts of Uganda are showing the way towards a green economy.

Dr. Ridolfi  is the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Uganda and Mr. Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther is the Ambassador of Norway to Uganda