Tag: Uganda


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  • Forest tenure reform implementation in Uganda: Current challenges and future opportunities

Forest tenure reform implementation in Uganda: Current challenges and future opportunities

12 February, 2018

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  • A recent study, focusing on national and district-level government officials involved in forest tenure reform implementation processes in Uganda, has highlighted key challenges and opportunities for future improvements. Analysis of responses shows that:
  • As reforms responded to a need for sustainable forest management and livelihood improvements, activities leant towards forest protection, rather than strengthening and securing community forest tenure rights.
  • Progress in tenure reform implementation has been below implementers’ expectations, largely due to inadequate funding, onerous processes of registration, declaration and management of Private Natural Forests and Community Forests, or in the case of Collaborative Forest Management, negotiation of rights with Responsible Bodies.
  • The main economic, social and political challenges faced by government officials implementing reforms were budgetary limitations, poverty levels in forest-adjacent communities, migration and socio-cultural norms. Research respondents noted also that often, politicians impeded rather than supported reform implementation processes. Some of them derived political capital out of exerting pressure on technical staff to engage in, as well as protect, illegal activities.
  • The study revealed a number of technical problems that constrained the implementation of forest tenure reforms. These included the tedious processes involved in getting the rights formalized, community inability to protect and safeguard forest tenure rights, and inadequate benefits accruing to communities involved in forest management activities.
  • There was no agreement among the respondents as to who is responsible for safeguarding community forest tenure rights. Development partners and civil society organizations (CSOs) also undertook activities to support the securing of local tenure rights, such as capacity building, resource mobilization, awareness raising and conflict resolution. However, such support was often shortlived and localized. Although government and CSOs are both involved in reform implementation, there is limited formal coordination between them.

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  • Securing tenure rights to communal forests in Masindi district, Uganda: Lessons from Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA)

Securing tenure rights to communal forests in Masindi district, Uganda: Lessons from Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA)

23 November, 2017

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  • The Participatory Prospective Analysis process in Masindi district, Uganda, brought together government, private sector, NGO and local communities stakeholders to collectively reflect on factors affecting local tenure rights, forecast future scenarios and propose actionable plans for securing forest tenure rights.
  • Participants identified several factors threatening local forest tenure rights: lack of land ownership documentation; inadequate implementation and enforcement of forest policies, laws and programs; land use changes; gender bias against women; political interference; lack of community awareness of forest tenure rights; and inadequate financial and human resources to effectively protect local people’s rights to forests and land.
  • To identify potential barriers and drivers, three workshops were organized. With both forestry and agricultural sectors being male-dominated, a women-only workshop was organized to capture women’s perspectives and compare findings with those of the mixed gender group.
  • Four ‘key driving forces’ impacting forest tenure security were identified by both groups: (1) community participation in forest tenure reform implementation, particularly that of women; (2) access to financial resources to implement forest tenure reform activities; (3) the importance of outside organizations having an awareness of community, cultural and institutional norms and beliefs regarding forest tenure rights; (4) the role played by local and national government agencies and politicians in coordinating and promoting progress towards forest tenure reforms.
  • Women stakeholders emphasized the importance of access to land for forestry activities as critical to securing their rights; they also identified that supportive men and domestic relationships can impact on women’s rights to forest land. Mixed group stakeholders identified the role of oil, gas and other industrial activities as a key threat to local forest tenure security.
  • Participants developed four scenarios to anticipate potential future situations impacting on local forest tenure rights. Desirable scenarios depicted a well-governed, well-financed forestry sector characterized by gender equality and participative forest management. Undesirable scenarios were characterized by a dominant oil and gas sector undermining forest sustainability and forest rights; a weak, underfunded and poorly-managed forest sector; forest conversion to other uses; government failure to recognize community rights and integrate communities in forest management; and disappointed, disempowered communities collectively destroying forests for survival instead of managing them sustainably.
  • Several actions were identified to secure local forest tenure rights: (a) making district-level government more responsive to local needs and aspirations around community forest tenure reforms; (b) increasing the number of well-trained district government officers and providing adequate financial resources; (c) facilitating a faster, affordable process for community forest registration, including community incentives; (d) equipping communities with knowledge, skills and resources to enhance their participation in forest tenure reform implementation; (e) promoting environmentally and socially responsible investments to mobilize resources for protecting local people’s forest tenure rights.

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  • Local tree knowledge can fast-track agroforestry recommendations for coffee smallholders along a climate gradient in Mount Elgon, Uganda

Local tree knowledge can fast-track agroforestry recommendations for coffee smallholders along a climate gradient in Mount Elgon, Uganda

01 September, 2017

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Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) is economically important for many smallholder farmers in the Mount Elgon region of East Uganda, but its production is increasingly threatened by climate change. However, ecosystem services (ES) provided by companion trees in coffee agroforestry systems (AFS) can help farmers adapt to climate change.

The objectives of this research were to develop agroforestry species recommendations and tailor these to the farmers’ needs and local context, taking into consideration gender. Local knowledge of agroforestry species and ES preferences was collected through farmer interviews and rankings. Using the Bradley-Terry approach, analysis was done along an altitudinal gradient in order to study different climate change scenarios for coffee suitability. Farmers had different needs in terms of ES and tree species at different altitudes, e.g. at low altitude they need a relatively larger set of ES to sustain their coffee production and livelihood. Local knowledge is found to be gender blind as no differences were observed in the rankings of species and ES by men and women.

Ranking species by ES and ranking ES by preference is a useful method to help scientists and extension agents to use local knowledge for the development of recommendations on companion trees in AFS for smallholder farmers.

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  • Forests and village saving schemes in Uganda

Forests and village saving schemes in Uganda

27 February, 2017

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In Uganda, an Adaptive Collaborative Management project is promoting village saving schemes as a way to empower communities, build businesses and achieve self-generated income. This research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • Forestry in Uganda: Connecting communities to power

Forestry in Uganda: Connecting communities to power


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In Uganda, an Adaptive Collaborative Management project is drawing links between public, private and community stakeholders to build networks and practices that bring benefits to all. This research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • Right tree right place: vegetationmap4africa and Uganda Tree Finder

Right tree right place: vegetationmap4africa and Uganda Tree Finder

28 October, 2016

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  • Building resilience and livelihoods with agroforestry in Uganda

Building resilience and livelihoods with agroforestry in Uganda

21 July, 2016

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Made by leading Ugandan documentarist Nathan Ochole, this film explains what agroforestry is and the contributions that it has made to Uganda. It starts in the highlands of Kabale, where trees on farms prevented landslides and floods, provided fruit to villagers and made their agriculture more sustainable. It then roams to the parklands of northern Uganda where Borassus palms and Shea trees provide valuable nutrition and cash earnings (particularly for women in the case of Shea) and improve the yields of the crops grown near them. It visits Kapchorwa where viewers see the use of the nitrogen-fixing shrub Calliandra as feed for dairy cows and then documents the improvements that orange trees have made to livelihoods in Namatumba.

Along the way, the film makers interview farmers as well as Dr Clement Okia, the representative of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Uganda, and Dr Hilary Agaba, Programme Leader Agroforestry at Uganda’s National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFORRI NARO).

It was produced by Cathy Watson, formerly of Tree Talk and Muvle Trust in Uganda and now Head of Programme Development at ICRAF, and by Australian AVID volunteer, Laura Keenan.

The work is related to the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • The impact of land property rights interventions on investment and agricultural productivity in developing countries: a systematic review

The impact of land property rights interventions on investment and agricultural productivity in developing countries: a systematic review

19 May, 2016

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Authors: Steven Lawry, Cyrus Samii, Ruth Hall, Aaron Leopold, Donna Hornby & Farai Mtero

We conducted a systematic review on the effects of land tenure recognition interventions on agricultural productivity, income, investment and other relevant outcomes. We synthesise findings from 20 quantitative studies and nine qualitative studies that passed a methodological screening. The results indicate substantial productivity and income gains from land tenure recognition, although gains differ markedly by region. We find that these effects may operate through gains in perceived tenure security and investment; we find no evidence for a credit mechanism. The qualitative synthesis highlights potential adverse effects. A conclusion emphasises the need for further research on inter-regional differences and on the role of customary tenure arrangements.

Journal of Development Effectiveness, April 2016
also at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Read blog Securing land rights = better livelihoods for communities? Not necessarily

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