Africa Environment : Deforestation in Uganda

An article on IRIN NEWS about deforestation in Uganda got me thinking and I hope it will interest you too. I was shocked to find out that the country had lost about a third of its forests in the last 20 years. The current estimate is that Uganda will lose ALL its remaining 3.5 million hectares of forest by 2050.

Climate change

The IRIN article argues that:

“Climate change does not happen in isolation… It interacts with existing problems and challenges – notably deforestation, soil degradation, declining food security, declining fish stocks – and makes them worse,”(IRIN NEWS)

I also found an article in the Guardian newspaper which comments on climate change in Uganda and argues that Uganda’s response to climate change is inadequate.

Farming

One of the biggest reasons for the increased rate of deforestation in Uganda seems to be the increase in farming.  The expansion of farmland puts pressure on the eco-system. This pressure is affecting the water table and diminishing the water supply, which in the end will affect farming production.

In Uganda less than 10% of people have access to electricity. This means that, like in many African countries, wood is used as the fuel for cooking. The need for firewood exacerbates deforestation.

What are the options for the future?

Another article on IRIN NEWS explores a question Africans are asking  – what will we eat in the future? The article makes the case that farming in Africa will HAVE to change in order to feed the growing populations and combat the effects of climate change. The points the article makes are important for Uganda.

It will take at least ten years to develop a variety of staple grain that will survive in the climates caused by global warming in most parts of Africa, and the continent has less than two decades in which to do it

African countries need to learn from each other and collaborate. Drought resistant crops developed in countries like Mali and Niger may help other countries struggling with climate change.

The energy crisis will mean that solar power and hydroelectric power will become more and more important. Projects like the huge solar power plant to be built in the Sahara desert are all very well, but they need to be providing solar power to African countries and not just power guzzling Europe. If electricity was able to be provided cheaply to all African countries then the need to chop firewood would diminish. Solar cooking is a possibility, but it demands a culture change in cooking methods which may make it more difficult to be widely accepted.

Solar Oven (wikimedia.org)

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cooking)

Further information

Read the IRIN articles:

UGANDA: Environmentalists point to worrying pace of deforestation
AFRICA: What will we eat in the future?

Read the Guardian article:

Uganda’s response to climate change ‘inadequate’

Books

• A dynamic bio-economic model for analyzing deforestation and degradation: An application to woodlands in Uganda [An article from: Forest Policy and Economics]
• Science and Conservation in African Forests: The Benefits of Longterm Research