The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Ltd has committed UGX 1.2 billion in a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) to cooperate on various conservation initiatives in the 10 Districts traversed by the Pipeline.
As part of this cooperation, EACOP is also joining the Running Out of Trees (ROOTS) campaign.
EACOP will work with an implementing partner to plant trees on land belonging to schools, churches, the Bunyoro and Buganda Kingdoms and other institutional landowners with a focus on indigenous and fruit trees across the 10 EACOP host districts.
This is in line with its commitments under the EACOP Environmental & Social Impact Assessments (ESIA).
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Martin Tiffen, EACOP Managing Director, stated that the ROOTS campaign is fully in line with EACOP commitments to environmental and biodiversity protection and off-setting, as well as positively engaging with institutions and communities in the vicinity of the pipeline activities.
The Water Ministry Permanent Secretary, Mr. Alfred Okot Okidi noted that the Ministry through its directorates has been engaged in the Environment and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and will be instrumental in completing the cycle of mitigating the predicted impacts and will provide the necessary support for the successful implementation of conservation initiatives in the Project ‘s area of influence.”
The signing, which marked the commencement of the ROOTS campaign, was concluded by a tree planting ceremony at the Ministry.
Launched in 2020, the ROOTs campaign is an ambitious plan to plant 40 million trees per year until 2026 for the first phase of the programme.
The campaign brings together the public sector, civil society and the private sector in concerted efforts to address a looming challenge of deforestation in the country that threatens to render Uganda more vulnerable to climate related disasters and unable to meet its wood needs by 2030, if nothing drastic is done to reverse the declining forest cover.
Data from the National Forestry Authority shows that Uganda has lost half its forestry cover in the past 30 years alone, from 4.9 million hectares to 2.5 million Hectares.
For context, Uganda’s population in 1990 was estimated to be about 17.5 million by the World Bank and currently stands at over 48 million, projected to be at 74 million in 2040 according to a World Bank Economic Update of 2020.
This statistic gives us a glimpse into what the future could hold considering that 65 percent of forest degradation takes place on private land as land owners choose land use change from forestry to agriculture, industry or settlement over biodiversity conservation.
Moreover, forestry contributes 6 percent of the GDP of Uganda and more than 90 percent of the population depend directly on forest for their energy needs such as firewood and charcoal.