POLITICAL AND POLICY CONTEXT
Since the mid-1980s, Uganda’s development policy has increasingly recognized the critical importance of natural resources to the country’s economic base. There is also an increasing realization of the link between environmental degradation and poverty, population and inappropriate economic policy. This is apparent in Uganda’s current political focus on poverty alleviation, as reflected in the Poverty Eradication Action Plan
(PEAP), and in its overall focus on broad social and economic development.
A number of policies contain references to the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity in Uganda. The more relevant of these
are described below.
The Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
The PEAP currently guides the Government Of Uganda’s(GOU) development strategy with the objective of effecting a dramatic reduction in poverty. The PEAP includes five pillars:
- Economic Management
- Production, Competitiveness and Incomes
- Security, Conflict-Resolution and Disaster Management
- Governance
- Human Development
The GOU sees the wise use of natural resources as a means of eradicating poverty, and government’s strategy hinges on the conservation of soil, forests and biomass, water, wetlands and wildlife.
The most current version of the PEAP (July, 2005) stresses the importance of natural resource and biodiversity conservation over previous versions and is summarized as follows:
- Improving the income of the poor is linked to natural ecosystems
- Achieving a sustained economic growth of 7% demands sustainable management of natural resources
- All efforts geared at improving the incomes of the poor are ultimately linked to natural ecosystems
- Land degradation is closely linked to population growth, cultural practices, and government policies and
institutions - In Kabale and other districts of Uganda, population pressure has resulted in land fragmentation resulting in plots that are increasingly becoming uneconomical to operate.
As a result of these issues, GOU has undertaken the following actions: - Improving the income of the poor is linked to natural ecosystems; In Wetlands Sector Strategic Plan and a National Wetlands Policy (NWP) have been completed, and have paved the way for district Wetland Action Plans (WSPs), Community Wetland Action Plans and a National Wetlands Inventory.
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- The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) is supporting District Environmental Action Plans and sectoral Environmental Impact Assessment guidelines. Sectoral guidelines for works have been implemented, and the draft guidelines for Water and Sanitation are being reviewed.
- The forestry sector completed a Forestry Policy (MWLE, 2001) and a National Forestry Authority (NFA)
Statute has been enacted. - Water resources management has been strengthened though the Nile Basin Initiative.
National Environment Management Policy (NEMP). The goal of the National Environment Management Policy (NEMP) is to enhance the quality of life for all Ugandans. The NEMP is supposed to guide sustainable economic development through sound environmental and natural resources management using a participatory approach.
The NEMP promotes environmentally responsible social and economic growth and recognizes biodiversity conservation as a form of natural resources management that is critical to meeting the needs of Ugandans.
The Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA). PMA is a poverty–focused framework that firmly endorses improved household food security and income generation through the market, and envisions an agricultural sector that is competitive, productive, diversified, export-oriented, and private-sector driven. The PMA gives a framework for increasing agricultural output through increased acreage, improved crop and animal varieties, and management.
The Medium-Term Competitiveness Strategy (MTCS). MTCS for the private sector is firmly focused on improving the competitiveness of Ugandan business and promoting export development, while simultaneously implementing actions, such as infrastructure development and trade policy reform, to create an environment conducive to investment and private sector led growth.
Past achievements have been fueled by agriculture and the future of broad-based economic growth in Uganda will continue to depend on agriculture. However, the gains of the past were based upon the expansion of the cultivated area, rather than productivity gains.
Since only 25% of the land in Uganda is considered “highly productive,” continuing expansion increasingly pushes farmers onto marginal land, producing low yields and damaging the nation’s biodiversity. Fostering growth and increasing incomes will depend upon increasing productivity in the agricultural sector, primarily through the closer integration of agriculture programs with sustainable natural resource management interventions in critical landscapes.
At the same time, agriculture alone cannot produce the growth that is needed to raise Uganda’s population above poverty. It is imperative to find alternatives through economic diversification.
This implies improving the capacity and sustainability of enterprises of all sizes, and creating a policy and regulatory environment that is conducive to efficiency, competitiveness, and sound environmental management.
