In Greater Masaka, encroachers have reportedly acquired land titles for sections of protected forest reserves and converted them into charcoal-burning sites, coffee plantations, marijuana gardens, and timber harvesting areas.
The encroachment is affecting 29 forest reserves managed by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) across the Greater Masaka sub-region, which comprises the districts of Sembabule, Kalangala, Rakai, Kyotera and Masaka, as well as Masaka City.
Mr Robert Mubokhisa, an NFA sector ranger, attributed the widespread degradation to inadequate staffing and the lack of support from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). He said the region has only ten NFA staff members responsible for protecting all 29 forest reserves.
Mubokhisa noted that guarding the forests has become increasingly dangerous, recalling that two rangers were recently hacked to death while on duty.
To restore degraded areas, he said the NFA has partnered with commercial banks and non-governmental organisations to undertake a large-scale tree-planting campaign aimed at increasing forest cover in the affected reserves.
When contacted, Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba said government had commenced the process of cancelling illegally acquired land titles in several forest reserves, including Jubiya, Kasonke, Mujuzi and Kijjanabalore, among others. She added that an investigation into the surveying process had been launched to establish how the land parcels were titled.
According to the ministry, the disputed land titles in Masaka were issued before 2016.
Nabakooba said holders of the illegal titles will be subjected to public hearings before the titles are cancelled, noting that a similar exercise has already been conducted in Mukono and the Greater Mpigi area.
