Uganda Safaris News: Mountain Gorilla Trekking Tours, Wildlife Safari, Primates Tour

By Nakiboneka Halimah
Uganda Safari and Travel News Reporter
Kampala Uganda

Conservationists have called upon the Ugandan government to tighten the laws guiding conservation forests in Uganda. This was revealed by the trustees of the National Forestry Authority (NFA). During the press conference it was revealed that Uganda’s total forest cover has halved in the last two decades. In 1988, 26% of the country was covered by forests. This has reduced to 13% in 2008, says John Diisi, NFA’s coordinator for Global Information Systems and Mapping. The country loses an average of 86,000 hectares of trees per year. Most of the destruction is taking place on private land, outside government-protected areas, according to NFA.

The trustees also revealed that politics is accountable to the dilapidating forests in Uganda. During campaigns, politicians coin slogans like ‘trees do not vote’. Politicians who cooperate with environmental bodies have ended up with a bitter taste in their mouth. “I wanted to reclaim my seat in Rakai, but it became impossible because people thought I had not done enough to silence conservation bodies seeking to evict them from areas they are encroaching,” says Matovu.

Diisi added on that over half of the 240,000 encroachers countrywide are found in Rakai, Masaka and Sembabule.

As a measure to protect the existing forests, Conservationists called upon the Ugandan government to write off parts of forests reserves it cannot secure from encroachers. At the same time, hilly and mountainous areas should be gazetted and accorded protection status of forest reserves.The destruction of forests in Uganda has severe impact on tourism and economic development. In the past years, Uganda has become one of the best safari destinations in Africa given its evergreen forests that protect rare and endangered species that cannpt be aesily found else where in the world.

Notable forests with rare species in Uganda include Bwindi Impenetrable forest and Mgahinga Gorilla Forest prominent for gorilla safaris, Kibale Forest an important forest for chimpanzee tracking and several ecotourism sites that include Mabira forest, Mpanga Forest, Kaniyo Pabidi Forest among others.