Forest and Land Rights at a Time of Deforestation and Climate Change: Land and Resource Use Crisis in Uganda
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Freehold structure: The common term for continuous ownership of land and all immovable structures attached to such land.
- Customary tenure system: It was first documented as a formal scheme in the 1995 constitution. Customary tenure structures are inherently exceptional to the localities in which they operate and are thus difficult to characterize by generalities.
- Mailo tenure: The system of freehold particular to Uganda that was familiarized by the British colonialists in the 1900s. Under the Mailo tenure system, ownership is in eternity; nonetheless, it is subject to the rights of lawful and bona fide occupants. Ownership rights are possessed by a registered owner who holds a Mailo land title. The occupant can transfer user rights to a descendant but requires permission from the registered owner in order to transfer user rights to a non-family member.
- Leasehold: The right to use property granted by the owner to the user for a stated period, under agreed terms and situations. In Uganda, leases offered by the government range from 49 to 99 years. These leases can be made for any of the other tenure types (Mailo, freehold, and customary).
2. Methodology
2.1. Area of Study
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis
- How can you describe your knowledge of property rights as far as forest ownership is concerned in Uganda? 1. Very Good, 2. Good, 3. Neutral, 4. Bad, 5. Very bad, 6. Don’t know
- Do you think policies around property rights are well organized and implemented concerning forested areas in Uganda? 1. Very Good, 2. Good, 3. Neutral, 4. Bad, 5. Very bad, 6. Don’t know, Any comments…
- Would you say that deforestation in the country is connected to how property rights policies are implemented? 1. Very True, 2. Somewhat True, 3. Not very true, 4. Not at all true, 5. Don’t know, Any comments…
- How would you rate transparency in implementing property rights policies of the forestry resource in Uganda? 1. Very Good, 2. Good, 3. Neutral, 4. Bad, 5. Very bad, 6. Don’t know, Any comments…
- How would you rate the level of corruption in the property rights policies implementation of the forests in Uganda? 1. Very High, 2. High, 3. Neutral, 4. Low, 5. Very low, 6. Do not know, Any comments…
- Do you think that deforestation has led to changes in climatic conditions in Uganda? 1. Yes, 2. No
- Do you think that deforestation leads to declining agriculture production in Uganda? 1. Yes, 2. No
- Do you agree with the statement: population increase is responsible for increasing deforestation and forest degradation? 1. Very Strongly Agree, 2. Strongly Agree, 3. Agree, 4. Neutral, 5. Disagree, 6. Strongly Disagree, 7. Very Strongly Disagree
3. Results and Discussion
- One of the current causes of forest land conflict is the demand for softwood to feed China’s appetite, leading to illicit logging across Uganda’s forests. Many of those behind the illegal logging are powerful individuals in government who use those in the community to cut down trees in forest reserves. Mabira forest is one of the examples where there is quite a lot of illicit logging that whereas there appears a thick canopy by the roadside, the inside part of the forest is a shell.
- The other cause of forest land conflict is the result of Uganda’s population explosion, where land scarcity is forcing communities to encroach on forests and forest reserves. And finally, these conflicts are attributed to the adverse effects of climate change, where flooding of riverbanks is forcing many communities to encroach on forest reserves as their new places of habitation.
- One of the solutions to the current forest land conflict should primarily be anchored on leadership. The Executive must walk the talk and stop resettling communities in forest reserves and halt communities from occupying forest reserves to preserve the environment. This can be done through reforms in the land tenure system where they can offer more security to squatters, or perhaps the government can purchase land to resettle and halt the pernicious destruction of forest cover.
- Government must also rein in its officers and cartels behind illicit logging across the country as its detrimental and costly to the country. Government must encourage tree planting and activities such as carbon trading across communities. Government must cascade messages on the protection of biodiversity and the environment to communities in the backwaters.
- Weak laws & Greedy leaders.
- FOREST LAND conflicts in Uganda are mainly caused by poor political policies and poor implementation at all levels. We continue to lose a lot of forest cover in Uganda.
- Lack of information about land by many people, land ownership not well defined, unsatisfactory database, poor governance, and leadership when it comes to land matters.
- Corruption in the implementation of the land laws and mostly with the support of government officials.
- Conflicting land rights, for example, between landlords and tenants, the issue of income disparities as the poor want to access land for livelihood.
- Stringent laws and Open discussion with the locals, Local Council (LC) court systems to resolve disputes. We need to set up strict land laws and follow them appropriately.
- Gazette forest land and prosecute officials who give away forest land.
- Awareness and sensitization about land ownership and rights, developing a database, and improved land policy.
- Government reforms in implementing land laws and strict fight on corruption-related cases in land given the high demand and a lot of money involved.
- Amending the legal provisions in different legislation to cure the lacuna, supporting the poor by allocating them gazetted areas rather than encroaching on forests. Fighting corruption by all stakeholders and ensuring the rule of law.
- Exclusiveness: The owner directly or indirectly enjoys the benefits of owning such property. Moreover, the owner is liable to accrued costs because of possessing and using this property by sale or other means.
- Enforceability: Property ownership rights secure involuntary seizure and or encroachment on one’s property by others.
- Transferability: Property ownership can be easily transferred from one owner to the other in a helpful manner.
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
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Property Rights | Frequency | Percent |
---|---|---|
Very good | 33 | 17 |
Good | 84 | 42 |
Neutral | 49 | 23 |
Bad | 27 | 14 |
Very bad | 4 | 3 |
Don’t know | 2 | 1 |
Corruption | Frequency | Percent |
Very High | 99 | 50 |
High | 77 | 39 |
Neutral | 14 | 7 |
Low | 6 | 3 |
Very Low | 2 | 1 |
Don’t Know | 1 | 0.5 |
Deforestation | Transparency | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Very Good | Good | Neutral | Bad | Very Bad | Don’t Know | Total | |
Not very true | 1 | 11 | 20 | 34 | 8 | 2 | 76 |
1 | 15 | 26 | 45 | 11 | 3 | 100 | |
Somewhat true | 11 | 20 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 55 |
20 | 36 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 100 | |
Very true | 2 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 34 |
6 | 18 | 9 | 44 | 15 | 9 | 100 | |
Not true at all | 0 | 3 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
0 | 13 | 54 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 100 | |
Don’t know | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
0 | 20 | 20 | 40 | 20 | 0 | 100 | |
Total | 14 | 42 | 49 | 65 | 24 | 5 | 199 |
7 | 21 | 25 | 33 | 12 | 3 | 100 | |
Deforestation | Corruption | ||||||
Very High | High | Neutral | Low | Very Low | Don’t Know | Total | |
Not very true | 39 | 24 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 76 |
51 | 32 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 100 | |
Somewhat true | 26 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 |
47 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | |
Very true | 15 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 34 |
44 | 44 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 100 | |
Not true at all | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
50 | 33 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100 | |
Don’t know | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
70 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 100 | |
Total | 99 | 77 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 199 |
50 | 39 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 100 |
Variables | (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(1) Knowledge of property rights | 1.000 | |||||||
(2) Property rights implementation | 0.561 * | 1.000 | ||||||
(3) Deforestation | −0.038 * | −0.123 * | 1.000 | |||||
(4) Transparency | 0.323 * | 0.453 * | 0.079 * | 1.000 | ||||
(5) Corruption | 0.052 * | 0.067 * | −0.011 * | −0.003 | 1.000 | |||
(6) Climate change | 0.008 * | 0.004 | 0.011 * | −0.043 * | 0.098 * | 1.000 | ||
(7) Population | 0.068 * | 0.189 * | 0.034 * | 0.191 * | −0.018 * | 0.056 * | 1.000 | |
(8) Agriculture | −0.134 * | −0.114 * | −0.135 * | −0.002 | 0.014 * | −0.071 * | −0.039 * | 1.000 |
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Bamwesigye, D.; Chipfakacha, R.; Yeboah, E. Forest and Land Rights at a Time of Deforestation and Climate Change: Land and Resource Use Crisis in Uganda. Land 2022, 11, 2092. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11112092
Bamwesigye D, Chipfakacha R, Yeboah E. Forest and Land Rights at a Time of Deforestation and Climate Change: Land and Resource Use Crisis in Uganda. Land. 2022; 11(11):2092. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11112092
Chicago/Turabian StyleBamwesigye, Dastan, Raymond Chipfakacha, and Evans Yeboah. 2022. "Forest and Land Rights at a Time of Deforestation and Climate Change: Land and Resource Use Crisis in Uganda" Land 11, no. 11: 2092. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11112092