Kayunga, Uganda: November 2, 2022: Uganda Baati Limited (UBL), a member of the Safal Group of Companies and Africa’s pioneer manufacturer of building solutions, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Forestry Authority (NFA) to replant 40 hectares of indigenous trees across the country which will culminate to 10 hectares per region (Central, East, West and North).
This will be in the areas of Bajo Central Forest Reserve – Kayunga District, Namatale Central Forest Reserve, Sironko district, Lokiragado Central Forest Reserve – Arua and Mubuku Central Forest Reserve – Kasese district.
The launch of the partnership took place with a tree planting exercise at Bajo Forest Reserve in Kayunga district.
With Shs104m support, NFA and the local community will restore the first ten hectares of forest cover, in Bajjo, followed by other areas.
According to the NFA, the country is likely to lose all of its forests in the next 25 years if nothing is done.
NFA says the repercussions of these actions are clear to see. Besides the landscape almost being completely devoid of trees, the dry season has become longer and filled with more droughts, with the loose soil causing heavy rainfall to turn into deadly floods, while crops are producing less and less yield.
This was also evident in Bajjo where the community leaders revealed that the rainfall patterns have changed with drought which affected their crops, and Monday 1, heavy rainfall that blew away the roofs of different buildings.
“In the 1900s, the forest cover was 53% but by 1990, it had reduced to 24%. By 2017, it was at 12% and between 1990 and 2017, Uganda had lost over 2.4 million hectares of forest cover. In 2019, there was a slight recovery in forest cover to 13% and the collaboration between Uganda Baati and NFA under the corporate forest restoration initiative, is a step in the right direction. We thank the leadership of SAFAL group and Uganda Baati for the continued partnership to combat climate change,” said Paul Musamali, the Director of Policy, who represented Tom Obong Okello, the NFA Executive Director.
Speaking at the same event, Tina Achira, a board member at NFA, said as an authority, they are battling encroachers who have cut most of the forest cover.
She gave an example of Bajjo forest reserve, where over two square miles were cut down for sugarcane plantation before it was recovered.
“The issue of sugarcane has been part of the different reasons we have lost our forest cover. There is general encroachment where people gradually cut the trees. This deforestation has been a very big concern to us, even when you tell people it’s a forest reserve, they will say they don’t see it there. However, we believe this initiative will go a long way in benefiting the community.”
She noted that over 200,000 hectares are lost every year in the country so there is a need to plant more than 300,000 hectares to counter deforestation.
“We have to involve everyone if we are to counter deforestation. Here, we are involving everyone with a plan of planting 40 million trees.”
“As UBL, we deeply care about the people and communities we operate in and live by the values of being a responsible and involved corporate citizen. The Company is guided by four key focus social investment pillars that include: Environment, Shelter, Health and Education. Today’s event falls under the Environment pillar and this initiative will contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specifically SDG 13 (Climate Change) and SDG 17 (Partnerships),” said George Arodi, Business Head at Uganda Baati Limited.
In addition, the Uganda Baati Board Chairman, Dr Alan Shonubi, emphasized the company’s commitment to lead the way in reducing the impact of climate change.
“We believe that environmental protection is the only way we can safeguard our future. The situation will get worse if we do nothing. But we can do something about it before it’s too late,” Dr Alan Shonubi added.
UBL recently collaborated with Uganda Hockey in the “score a tree campaign” where a tree is planted for each goal scored throughout the season.
NFA has identified five hectares within Mabira Forest where this partnership shall focus its restoration activities this year.
