NEMA embarks on restoration of degraded Kyangwali Mixed Land Use Project area in Kikuube district
Drake Nyamugabwa
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has commenced an operation aimed at stopping further encroachment and restoration of the degraded areas of Kyangwali Mixed Land Use Project in Kikuube District.
Following approval of the Kyangwali Mixed Land Use Project area there was an influx of people estimated at about 40,000 both within the project area and the adjacent Bugoma Central Forest, carrying out illegal logging, charcoal burning and cultivation.
The statement from NEMA indicates that there was an influx of people in the project area and though there were interventions by the area local government evicting over 20,000 people, the residents continued seeking advice and guidance from the RDC Kikuube Mr Amlan Tumusiime pictured above on the way forward from relevant authorities including NEMA.
“This prompted intervention by the area local government and initially about 20,000 people were evicted. However, encroachment continued prompting the district, through the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), to seek NEMAs support to curb the degradation” it partly reads
Background:
The Kikuube District Security Committee-DSC last year in November ordered more than 300 squatters on part of the land Hoima sugar limited leased from Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom in Bugoma forest to vacate with immediate effect. The affected were part of more than 20,000 people who encroached on part of the land that Hoima sugar limited leased from the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom for 99 years for sugarcane growing.
In April 2022, Police backed by Uganda Peoples Defense Forces-UPDF stormed Bugoma central forest reserve and forcefully evicted more than 20,000 people who were carrying out different activities such as charcoal burning, cultivation, and timber harvesting. The encroachers had occupied over 4,000 acres of land belonging to Hoima Sugar Limited.
During the eviction, the joint security forces slashed crops, destroyed houses, and torched several bags of charcoal from the squatters. Security intervened following protests from Hoima Sugar accusing the encroachers of frustrating their efforts to utilize the land for sugar cane growing. However, Kikuube authorities pleaded with Hoima Sugar Limited to allow some of the encroachers to harvest their crops and leave.
In June this year, Hoima Sugar Limited gave the encroachers a three-month ultimatum to harvest their crops and leave. However, some of the encroachers remained adamant.Now, Amlan Tumusiime, the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner-RDC, said they have resolved that the encroachers vacate the area immediately.
He said that security has since established that some of the encroachers are wrong elements and have become a security threat. To prove his point, he says that one of the encroachers disarmed a soldier in the forest reserve last week and disappeared with his firearm.
According to the statement from NEMA issued on 12th January 2023, NEMA In September 2022, issued a Restoration Order to the developer after a review of the Environmental and Social Audit report for the project and subsequent inspections discovered non-compliance to ESIA conditions, most significantly deforestation in places that were meant to remain protected such as the eco-tourism site, cultural site and the buffer zones. The Restoration Order also cancelled the earlier approval for development of an urban centre within the ecosystem and instructed the developer to take steps to safeguard and prevent further encroachment.
In 2020, NEMA issued Hoima Sugar Ltd an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) certificate No. NEMA/ESIA/13709 to implement the project with specific conditions and project components as follows: Sugarcane Plantation (9.24 sq. miles / 2,393.8483 ha), Urban Centre (1.206 sq. miles / 312.3 ha), Eco-tourism Centre (1.97 sq. miles / 510.2277 ha), Cultural Site (0.156 sq. miles / 40.4038 ha), and Natural reserved forest and nature walk-ways (6.17 sq. miles/1,598.023 ha).
The statement adds that the developer is finalizing the Restoration Plan for the degraded areas as directed by NEMA and that NEMA working with the district, National Forestry Authority and the Ministry of Water and Environment is undertaking an enforcement operation in the area to among others evict encroachers to pave way for restoration of the ecosystem to stop further community encroachment of the ecosystem.
