Abstract
Key messagesLamwo district, which before 2009 was part of the Kitgum district in northern Uganda, provides an interesting case of a post-conflict customary forest tenure system under a situation of changing forest governance, as forest tenure reforms introduced since 2001 give local communities extensive rights to forests. This is particularly important as the region continues to recover from the conflict that ended in 2006.In 2015, forest stakeholders took part in a Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) exercise that identified the determinants of forest tenure security in the district as: forest governance; the role and capacity of key stakeholders (particularly NGOs and customary institutions); an increasing demand for forest products; and pressure to convert forest land to large-scale agriculture.Based on their explorations of the implications of these driving forces, the participant stakeholders developed one desirable and three undesirable future scenarios of forest tenure security.The desirable scenario sees: a well-informed and active local community, which is aware of its forest tenure rights; an affordable forest land registration process that is not too bureaucratic; positive political influences; and a well-funded and -staffed district government that oversees and coordinates the work of NGOs, customary leaders, politicians and other stakeholders involved in forest tenure reform implementation.The three undesirable scenarios share the key features of corrupt local government, disinterested NGOs, disempowered local people, weakened cultural institutions (resulting in increasing conflicts and unresolved forest and land conflicts), and an expensive, bureaucratic forest and land registration process.Participants recommended seven initiatives to promote forest and land tenure security under customary systems in Lamwo district: 1) formulating and implementing bylaws; 2) creating forest conservation committees for each clan, to ensure proper management of their forest areas; 3) proactive community participation in decision-making, particularly in regards to women's rights and involvement; 4) popularizing, simplifying and translating documents into local languages, including guidelines on registration and declaration of customary forests; 5) regulating harvesting rates for forest products (especially timber), 6) improving the system for registering forest and land areas; and 7) undertaking capacity-building initiatives.The PPA exercise revealed state and non-state stakeholders share common interests in protecting the forest and land tenure rights of forest-dependent communities under customary tenure systems in Lamwo district. Stakeholders pledged support for improved implementation, collaboration and coordination, to achieve the shared goals of forest tenure security for rights holders in Lamwo district by 2025.
Highlights
The last hundred years have seen considerable changes in Uganda’s forest and land tenure systems, first under the colonial system, and post-independence
The Constitution catalyzed and provided legal backup for several forest sector reforms that aim to provide more efficient and effective forest administration, management and use of the country’s forests. These reforms are founded on the Forestry Policy (MWLE 2001), the National Forestry Plan (MWLE 2002), the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act (The Republic of Uganda 2003), and a new institutional framework for managing the country’s forest resources
Three of the forces were identified by both groups, while the mixed Prospective Analysis (PPA) workshop identified three unique key driving forces, and the women-only workshop identified four unique key driving forces
Summary
The last hundred years have seen considerable changes in Uganda’s forest and land tenure systems, first under the colonial system, and post-independence. A key reform provides legal recognition and technical support for the customary forest tenure systems that are common in northern Uganda, where strong customary systems have survived decades of state interventions Against this background, the multi-stakeholder collaborative process of Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) was conducted with forest sector stakeholders in Lamwo district, Uganda, in 2015 as part of the Global Comparative Study on Forest Tenure Reform, led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). PPA is a systematic foresighting process that combines participatory learning and the sharing of information, while strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to become more active in making decisions related to their futures This process was used in late 2015 and early 2016 in Lamwo district to enable community representatives, forestry officials, NGO representatives and other stakeholders to identify threats to forest tenure rights, the related influences and possible future scenarios, and to elaborate measures in response to these scenarios. See Bourgeois et al (2017) for further information on the PPA process
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