African Insights Blog

October 2006

Mabira Rain Forest or Mabira Sugarcane Fields?

Drive from Kampala to Jinja to see the source of the Nile. Coming and going you will enter one of the most beautiful forests in all Uganda, Mabira.  There are ancient trees, jungle like settings, hiking trails with various degrees of difficulty.  Animals abound, colorful birds create a symphony above, and the sun shines through in spots. You can camp there and experience the night in the forest in a most memorable manner.  Ugandans love their Mabira Forest and so do lots of us Bazungu.

Mabira Rainforest is one of those many natural wonders that create as to what is know as the “Pearl of Africa.”  Along comes the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, Ltd., that wants to take 25% of this natural treasure and turn it into a vast wasteland of sweet sticks in the air.  Why there? Why not somewhere else? They have been offered 10,000 hectares by the Buganda Kingdom . I  But no, the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, Ltd. insists on the Mabira forest since it is next to their existing sugarcane fields and because it is a rain forest, thus SCOUL would not have to pay for an irrigation system since this rainforest naturally supplies water to the soil.

President Museveni has stated that he is willing to listen to sound reasoning as to why one should keep the forest in its present state, petitions have been signed and sent, but the issue of taking one of Uganda’s finest forests and simply cutting 25% down is quite shortsighted and ultimately destructive and far from solved. It will certainly affect the ecological balance of that part of the country, then the rest of East Africa, since everything is connected.

Uganda signed the Kyoto agreement, it does not have to do much since it is a developing nation, besides planting more trees and increasing the forests, instead some business people have this idea that there is a sugar shortage and Ugandans need more sugar for their Chai, therefore they see it as logical to cut down one of the prime rain forest regions of the country.

Maybe Kenya should send on loan Wangari Mathai, Assistant Minister of the Environment and Member of Parliament. This woman from Nyeri, high in the mountains, was the catalyst behind an incredible women’s movement that planted over 20 million trees in Kenya and reversed a trend that surely would have brought total ruin to her country.  Her efforts in her country were recognized as benefiting the entire world, and Wangari Mathai was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Maybe she could speak some sense into this situation. But the people who need to speak out are the Ugandans who need to realize that this is the time to stand firm and not allow the loss of a portion of Mabira Rainforest, the heritage of their children and generations that are to come after them. Timing is critical. Once the trees are gone, they are gone and it would be difficult to turn around and start anew.

I am sure that there is Wangari Mathai type person in Uganda. She or he just needs to come forth and speak on behalf of the heritage of Uganda.  There is lots of other space for sugarcane; more urgently needed are even more trees.

In this part of the world most people cook with charcoal that comes from the shrubs and trees around towns.  This has resulted in the defoliation of large parts of East Africa.  It is time to plant more trees, not to cut them down. 

It is time for SCOUL, Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited, to realize that people in Uganda and all across this world are against such shortsighted SCOUL - serving nonsense, and such thinking does not take the future generations into account.  We can always find another spoon of sugar, or honey for that matter, but once we cut down 25% of a majestic forest, we just might end up with a bowl of dust. I am sure that President Museveni will make the right decision that considers and nurtures the development of his country, which is gifted by nature, the Pearl of Africa…Uganda…jon

August 8 2008 Update:  President Museveni came out during November of 2007, that Mabira would remain as it was.  That was when the Commonwealth Heads of State came to Kampala and the world's attention were on  Uganda.  Since then however, the tune has changed and it is back to the give-a-way talk to SCOUL.  May Ugandans and the International community apply pressure on President Museveni who for some reason is stubbornly refusing to change his mind and keep Mabira, the national treasure that it is.  This however is indicative of other national treasures that are given away when the drilling of oil is the focus, or the building of cement plants in eco-fragile places.  There has never been a reforestation program in place in Uganda, and with the population depending on charcoal for fuel and the building boom that is here, soon Uganda will be out of harvestable trees and this lush country where the West African rain forests meet East Africa will be denuded of its treasures...jon 

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