DECENTRALISATION AND FOREST MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA In Support of:The Intercessional Country-Led Initiative on Decentralisation, Federal Systems of Forestry and National Forestry Programmes

Local governments in Uganda manage 5000 hectares (ha) of local forest reserves and oversee the forests on private lands, which constitute 70 percent of Uganda’s forests. Ten years after the decentralisation process was introduced in Uganda, it is not really embraced forests. Friction between the central government Forestry Department and local governments continues because the laws governing local governments and those governing forestry have not clarified whether forests are decentralised or not. The ensuing confusion has led to deterioration of forests through illegal harvesting and encroachment for agriculture and settlement. Local forest reserves created in 1998 were not transferred to local governments with corresponding resources to manage them. Therefore, they did not take up the responsibility. These reserves also became heavily encroached. Decentralisation has inspired almost no public or private investment at the forest level. However, definable individual financial benefits indicate the beginnings of private capital investment in forestry. Key words: decentralization, forest reserves, local government