The Uganda Investing in Forests and Protected Areas Project was approved by the World Bank on April 23, 2020, by Uganda’s Cabinet February 1, 2021, and by the Ugandan Parliament in mid-May 2021. It was declared effective September 9, 2021, and officially launched March 9, 2022. From 2022-23, the project focused on procurement of project goods and services, including services such as engaging farmers on applying agro-forestry. Since then, implementation, including stakeholder engagement, has begun following completion of the project’s Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups Plan in 2023.
The development objective of the project is to “help Uganda improve sustainable management of forests and protected areas and to increase benefits to forest-dependent communities.” As Uganda’s landscape is central to the tourism industry and overall economy, the project is intended both to increase ecosystem goods and services and generate more revenue from forests and protected areas. This will be achieved through financing infrastructure and equipment for management, protection, and development of key tourism locations. In addition, the project is to invest in plantation forestry and wood value chains with the aim of enabling plantation forestry to become a strong and self-sustaining economic sector.
It is also important to note that Uganda is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, with approximately 1.74 million refugees. The ongoing influx of refugees (roughly 98,000 in 2023), along with existing, protracted refugee settlements, has exacerbated human environmental impacts and associated problems. To alleviate these impacts in refugee hosting areas, the project will support forest management in these areas and intends to increase tree cover in host community landscapes via agroforestry and woodlot establishment.
BIC and our Ugandan partner BioVision Africa (BiVA) found that broad awareness about the project and participation of stakeholders, especially marginalized groups, is lacking. For example, while the project succeeded in soliciting farmers’ preferences for seedlings to plant, ongoing competition between planting trees and other agricultural crops shows that more engagement is needed to show how these can be complementary. Similarly, the uprooting by local men of trees planted by women shows the need for greater attention to training on project implementation, including different roles that people are empowered to play and the rights of marginalized groups who may work in or be impacted by the project.
BiVA’s field visits and meetings also found issues relative to the government’s execution of the project:
BiVA also noted, relative to the World Bank’s role:
The latter has resulted in letters from Batwa groups to the government, followed by a petition to the World Bank in November 2024, laying out demands, including that certain project plans for three of the National Parks and a Central Forest Reserve be implemented by the Batwa themselves. According to Batwa representatives, these letters and petitions have yet to be satisfactorily addressed.
The International Development Association of the World Bank is financing $148.2 million of the $178.2 million total project cost. The balance ($30M) is counterpart funding from the Ugandan government. The World Bank has sought clarification from the government regarding the scope of activities it considers eligible as counterpart funds, specifically whether government spending on tree planting outside the project’s geographic focus should be included.
BioVision Africa
The World Bank should:
BioVision Africa’s Independent Assessment Report On Community Participation In Project Processes Of Districts, Refugees And Host Communities (July 2022)
BioVision Africa’s Monitoring Report on the “Investing In Forests And Protected Areas For Climate Smart Development (IFPA-CD)” Project (November 2024)
