O sucesso de gestão florestal: a importância da segurança da posse e a aplicação de regras nas florestas de Uganda

Chapter 4 - Successful Forest Management: The Importance of Security of Tenure and Rule Enforcement in Ugandan Forests

Abwoli Y. Banana and William Gombya-Ssembajjwe

Introduction

Uganda's forest resources are an essential foundation for the country's current and future livelihood and growth. Over nine-tenths of Uganda's energy requirement, for example, is generated by forests (Background to the Uganda Budget 1993-1994). Forests are also important for timber and for their role in increasing agricultural productivity. They support wildlife and other forms of biodiversity vital for the country's future heritage, as well as for generating foreign exchange through a tourist industry focused on the diverse flora and fauna of Uganda.

These valuable forest resources are disappearing rapidly. The 1992 Uganda National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) estimated that deforestation was occurring in Uganda at the rate of 500 km2, while the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (1993) estimated it to be at 650 km2 annually. If the rate of deforestation were to continue unabated, most of the forested area of Uganda would disappear within the coming century.

The proximate causes of forest loss are clearing for agriculture, pitsawing and logging for lumber, charcoal and firewood production. However, not all forests are experiencing this problem equally; in some forests we do not find overexploitation. If we can come to understand why certain forests do not experience overuse, perhaps these lessons can help construct management schemes that are more effective and sustainable.

Among the more important independent variables that affect the level and type of consumptive utilization of forests in many settings are the security of tenure that local residents possess related to forests and the level of rule enforcement related to the use of forest resources. These variables are important because individuals who lack secure rights to continued use of forest resources are strongly tempted to use up these resources before they are lost to the harvesting efforts of others. Further, if rules regulating access and use of forest resources are not adequately enforced, the de facto condition becomes one of open access rather than secure tenure.

In this chapter, we argue that the condition of forests in Uganda is related to the uncertain status of land and tree tenure regimes. In our study of five forests, we find that in those areas where a system of property rights is well-known to the local population and is enforced, the condition of forests is arguably better than in those areas where locals play no part in forestry management and national laws lack enforcement (NEAP, 1992). We also find that in addition to government-enforced rules, the recognition of indigenous rights to forest resources management led to successful management practices.

Forest use in Uganda

In order to establish the effect of the independent variables described above on the outcomes (deforestation or sustainable use of the resource), studies were conducted during the fall of 1993 in five selected sites located in Uganda's four agroecological zones (tall grasslands, short grasslands, semi-arid, and highlands).

Two forests were studied in the tall grassland zone in Mpigi District about 30 km west of Kampala. Two forests from one site were included because they represented a "natural experiment" in which very similar natural forest lands were divided into two forests with different tenure regimes and use rights. One of the forest patches is known as Namungo Forest, which is privately owned. Adjacent to Namungo Forest is a section of the Lwamunda Forest, which is a Government Forest Reserve. Both of these forest patches are tropical moist evergreen with closed canopies (Barbour, Burk, and Pitts, 1987) and are locally classified as medium altitude Piptadenistrum-Albizia-Celfs, after the three typically dominant species in this area (Howard, 1991).

From the highlands agro-ecological zone, we studied the Echuya Government Forest Reserve, located approximately 500 km southwest of Kampala in Kabale District. It is a montane forest characterized by Arundinaria alpina bamboo species and scattered Dombeya-Macaranga tree species (Banana et al., 1993a, 1993b). From the semi-arid agro-ecological zone, we selected the Mbale Forest Reserve. This forest, a savanna grassland forest characterized by Acacia-Albizia-Combretum tree species and Cymbopogon afronadus and Hyparrhenia spp, is located approximately 70 km north of Kampala in Luwero District (Banana et al., 1993c).

Bukaleba government forest reserve, located 140 km east of Kampala in Iganga District, was selected to represent forests in the short grass agro-ecological zone. It is a wooded savanna grassland forest, characterized and dominated by Combretum, Teclea, and Terminalia tree species (Banana et al., 1993b).

Level of consumptive utilization

Local forest users consume a wide variety of forest products in all five forests. Some of these uses are legal; a great number are not. Significantly, the intensity and pattern of these consumptive uses vary across the forests.

In all five forests, local forest users are permitted to harvest forest products for subsistence use in "reasonable" quantities. Access to these forests for other benefits, such as recreation and cultural activities, is open to all local users. If forest users desire to harvest forest products for commercial purposes, however, they are required to purchase a monthly or seasonal license from the Forest Department.

The specific pattern of legal use in each forest, however, varies. In Namungo's Forest, the Namungo family (the private owner) has recognized the customary rights of the local residents located at the edge of his forest for the last half-century. These residents are allowed to harvest firewood, poles, craft materials, medicinal plants, water and fruits and wild foods from the forest (Gombya-Ssembajjwe et al., 1993). To monitor the use of this forest by local residents, Namungo employs a staff. The adjacent Lwamunda Forest Reserve, which is a government forest reserve, has also been used by local residents for harvesting similar products. Prior to 1981, selective logging of trees over 80 cm in diameter by logging companies had been permitted and carried out in both Namungo and Lwamunda Forests. Locals living near the Echuya montane forest use bamboo stems extensively for firewood, poles, thatch, and fibres. In Bukaleba and Mbale Forests, the Acacia-Albizia-Combretum tree species that dominate are used extensively for commercial charcoal production by the local people, and the