Saving Mabira Rainforest: Using Public Interest Litigation in Uganda to Save Mabira and Other Forests

Abstract

In August 2011, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni announced that he planned to give away part of Mabira rainforest to the Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (SCOUL) in Lugazi, Mukono to grow sugarcane. The president explained that his action was to enhance sugar production in the country. Nonetheless, President Museveni had made a similar proposal in 2007, and abandoned it after it was received with immense resistance from the public and environmental groups. The Ugandan government has also given away other forest land to private investors, including Bugala Island in Lake Victoria to a vegetable company to grow palm trees. This Note argues that the Ugandans opposed to the give-away of forest land to private companies can bring public interest litigation under Article 50 of the Constitution. The Note further proposes that to save private forests, Uganda should seek guidance from U.S. case law on applying the public trust doctrine to trust resources on private property.