Encroachers using chemicals to destroy Mabira, residents say

Residents of Byakuku Village in Wakisi Sub-county, Buikwe District have asked the government to take action against people encroaching on Mabira Forest.

According to the residents, the activities of the encroachers have led to the destruction of the forest.
 In an interview with Monitor last week, Mr Moses Wogwal, 39, a resident, said some of the encroachers are using a chemical, which causes the trees and other vegetation to dry up.

“The chemical is too dangerous. If you spray it on a banana plant this evening, tomorrow you will not find it. When they spray it on a tree, within 30 days, the roots rot and any slight wind, makes it fall and they get either timber or burn charcoal,” he said.

Mr Henry Wojega Magomu, 74, another resident, said the encroachers have established coffee, banana, and passion fruit plantations in the forest.

“… The forest has been degraded by people who were cutting down trees for timber and charcoal burning and now they get pegs for supporting passion fruit growing. It is difficult to estimate how many people come here for charcoal burning because the place is crowded,” he said.

Mr Madoi Kamyat, 44, the assistant defence secretary of the area, blamed the rapid encroachment on the forest on people not knowing where its boundaries are.

He said the charcoal business in the villages that neighbour the forest such as Wabusanke, Kalagala, and Kyambogo, is growing.

Mr Moses Simotu, the manager of Lwankima Sector in Mabira Central Forest Reserve, said many of those entering the forest do not know that it is a protected area.

Mr Simotu said the population of those living in the forest has grown.
He, however, said they have deployed security personnel to curb the issue. 

Mr Dennis Ssebugwawo Mbalire, the NFA range manager for lake shores, said patrol teams headed by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) are monitoring the trees and have stopped any further cultivation in degraded areas of the forest. 

When officials from the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) and the National Forestry Authority (NFA) officials and journalists visited the forest last Thursday, trees they planted as a part of a restoration campaign had been cut down and several coffee and banana plantations had been established in the area.

Some of the gardens had stamps of old trees which had been cut down for unknown reasons with some in the process of regeneration.

When asked about the cutting down of the trees, Mr David Kinoko, 60, the Byabuku Village defence chairman, said: “I do not know when the trees disappeared. I am surprised. I do not know the owners of these coffee and banana plantations because whenever the forest rangers come, they do not involve me. I am just seeing this now. Previously the whole of this area was a forest but this place now has over 1,200 people living here.”

The ERA and NFA officials visited the forest as part of the last leg of the four-year forest cover restoration campaign for degraded forests across the country. 

Mr Edward Irura, the chief finance officer of ERA, said the campaign is aimed at restoring forests that were degraded by encroachers.

Mr Irura said forests play an important role as water catchment areas, which are crucial for rain creation and electricity production, both vital for life and the environment. 

He said so far they have planted trees in West Nile at Njevu and in northern and central Uganda.