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Day 14

A tree seedling for reforestation in Uganda

Green Light Revolution – securing food supplies, protecting the climate Green Light Revolution – securing food supplies, protecting the climate

A tree seedling for reforestation in Uganda
Day 14
Deforestation and climate change in Uganda

Winston Churchill once called Uganda "the pearl of Africa". At that time, Uganda was a green, fertile, biodiverse country between the gigantic Lake Victoria, the White Nile and the misty Ruwenzori Mountains, home to the endangered mountain gorillas. The central region of Uganda used to stretch from the northern shores of Lake Victoria in gentle, forested hills. Today the hills are built up or largely bare. Studies show that between 1990 and 2010 Uganda lost around 88,150 hectares of forest every year. In total, this is 31.7% of the forest cover (FAO, 2010). And deforestation continues. Uganda was located in an East African tropical microclimate thanks to Lake Victoria and the jungle. This microclimate is being lost. This has fatal consequences for the entire region. In Uganda, around 82% of the people live directly or indirectly from agriculture (Welthungerhilfe, 2015). 85% of them are smallholders with land holdings of less than five acres. Their agriculture is based primarily on rainfall, with hardly any irrigation systems. Over 90% of their energy supply is based on wood, mainly for cooking. Due to climate change, rainy seasons and patterns are changing. The rainy season, which used to occur twice a year, has become unreliable: either it doesn't rain at all - with the result that smallholders and peasants have no harvests and lose their seeds - or it floods, which removes humus and the harvest is lost if the small fields are not sufficiently contoured, ditched and protected by rows of trees and hedges. This means that it is becoming increasingly difficult for smallholders to make a living from their crops.

Deforestation and climate change in Uganda
need
Reforestation and organic farming for smallholder farming families in Uganda.
activity
Five local NGOs and six rural schools support 2,500 farming families by building tree nurseries and teaching organic farming.
Measurable performance
Number of trees planted and cared for on the land of smallholder farmers and by students.
Result
It is expected that at least 833 smallholder farming families will be able to make a living from their diversified agroforestry.
Systemically relevant impact
The local, vibrant ecological economic cycle is functioning again, and food security with income for small farming families has been created.
background

It is the vicious circle of rural poverty: in times of need, small farmers often contribute to the destruction of biodiversity and natural resources. To generate income, trees are felled for sale and sold as construction or carpentry wood, posts for electrical lines, firewood or in the form of charcoal. Without natural vegetation, the land is even more vulnerable and at the mercy of extreme weather.

Today, the consequences of the destruction caused by deforestation and monocultural misuse are visible everywhere: soil fertility is declining, soils are losing their ability to absorb water, and groundwater levels are falling. This means that natural adaptability and resilience are further diminishing. Only 34.4 percent of Ugandan soils are even suitable for cultivation (World Bank, 2013).

The international trade in CO2 certificates is also having unpleasant consequences in Uganda: Foreign companies have planted large-scale wood plantations in recent years. What is supposed to serve the purpose of climate protection ends in disaster for the local farming families: They are driven from their land, sometimes violently. The plantations are fenced-in monocultures of fast-growing coniferous wood contaminated with pesticides; there is no feed for animals and no opportunity for integrated forestry for the farming families (Spiegel.de, 2015).

Lugazi, Buikwe
Day 14 Day 14
The good deed

The aim is to preserve biodiversity and adapt to climate change through intensive, integrated reforestation, promoting sustainable forestry and organic farming in 100 communities in central Uganda. Small farmers who are particularly affected by poverty and whose livelihoods are threatened by the negative effects of climate change are trained in ecological agroforestry and implement the reforestation measures themselves. They improve the standard of living of their communities through ecologically sustainable, biodiversity-promoting and economically viable agricultural cultivation methods. In six participating rural schools, the children are taught environmental topics and plant tree seedlings on school farms and their parents' farms.

AboutUganda
Kampala
Kampala
Capital city
39 032 400
39 032 400
Population
609 USD
609 USD
Gross domestic product per capita per year
163
163
Human Development Index (Human Development Index)

48% of people in Uganda are younger than 15 years old. And more than 80% of the population in Uganda live from agriculture. Climate change is endangering the life prospects of these young people.
About the organization and further information

organization

Future Development Foundation in GLS Treuhand eV

Website

http://www.zukunftsstiftung-entwicklung.de

DZI donation seal

Further links