Browsing by Author "Banana, Abwoli Y."

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Community Participation in the Management of Protected Forest Areas in East Africa: Opportunities and Challenges
(2000) Kajembe, George; Kihiyo, V. B. M. S.; Banana, Abwoli Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Ongugo, Paul
"There is a move in East Africa from centralized and state-driven forest management regimes towards decentralized and mainly community-based regimes. The paper points out some of the opportunities and challenges. Structural changes in forest policies are seen as a contributing reason that decentralization is more in tune with the prevailing ethos of governance. Similarly, economic and political crises have now discredited service delivery systems based on central bureaucracy, forcing theorists of development administration to shift their focus from hierarchy and control to participation and empowerment. Moreover, the accelerating retrenchment during the 1990s, often to comply with structural adjustment policies, occurred together with the realization that centrist management strategies need reformulation. Erosion of the legitimacy of local institutions has been cited in the paper as one of the challenges. Local institutions have no real authority to decide on the management of forest resources. Another challenge is with regard to the stratified communities. In all stratified communities, interests of some actors are represented only inadequately. Lack of political will at the centre to give powers to communities and grassroots organizations is also a challenge to community based forest management initiatives in the region. It is also important that benefits must be significant if the community is to go to the trouble of establishing and enforcing the rules about resource use. This begs the question on whether community based forest management programmes/ projects in East Africa have sufficient value to stimulate community participation. This remains a puzzle. The paper concludes by pointing out that 'Rural communities in the region are undergoing rapid social, economic, and political change, as the development and modernization process spreads and deepens"' Even if effective and viable user groups exist or can be put in place today, will they survive and persist in the face of modernization pressures? Much more needs to be known about the institutional context in which users now find themselves and the type of support that will increase the probability of sustainable management of our forest resources."
Decentralization of Forestry Resources in Uganda: Realities or Rhetoric?
(2002) Banana, Abwoli Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Bahati, Joseph
"This paper explores the extent to which decentralization following the enactment of the Decentralization Statute of 1987 has transferred control over forestry resources to local institutions in Uganda. A survey carried out in 43 forests located in eastern, central and western Uganda show unregulated harvesting pattern and use of forest products. Using Mpigi district as a case study, the effectiveness of local institutions in the governance of forests was examined. Forests located in remote villages of Mpigi district were found to be more degraded than those close to the local administrative centers possibly due to weak monitoring and sanctioning of forest rules by the elected local councils. The study showed that the central government still controls the management of forest resources in the districts and that there is at present no genuine shift in authority over forest resources to local people."
Decentralized Forest Management in Uganda: Local Communities' Participation and Forest Sustainability
(2011) Waiswa, D; Prisley, S.P.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Banana, Abwoli Y.; Bahati, Joseph
"Many countries, including Uganda, adopted forest decentralization as national policy for improving local people’s livelihoods and promoting forest sustainability. And both local communities’ participation in forest management and access to forest resources greatly impact their livelihoods. Indeed, the Uganda Forestry Policy of 2001 and the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act of 2003 stipulate improvement of livelihoods and public participation in forest management in addition to promoting forest sustainability. Despite the inception of forest decentralization in Uganda in early 2000,it was not well understood whether decentralized forest management was improving local communities’ livelihoods and enhancing forest sustainability, hence this study. The objectives were to: (i) Assess local communities’ participation in decentralized forest management and their access to forest resources, (ii) Stratify and quantify Uganda’s forest cover extent since 2002, and (iii) Assess and map the spatial distribution of Uganda’s forest cover dynamics since 2002. Social survey data collected between 1997 and 2008 by Uganda Forestry Resources and Institutions Center were subjected to descriptive and content analysis. Secondary data was also examined. Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus imagery for 2002, 2006 and 2009 each covering 1,509,328 ha were classified using unsupervised techniques and subjected to post-classification comparison change detection. Local communities were generally not actively participating in decentralized forest management and their access to forest resources remained unchanged and mostly illegal. Forest cover declined by 4.5% between 2002 and 2006 and by 32.8% between 2006 and 2009 while overall forest cover decline between 2002 and 2009 was 35.8%. Land cover conversion from non-forest to forest and vice-versa also revealed net forest cover loss between 2002 and 2009. A visual assessment showed a clustered forest cover loss spatial distribution. Forest decentralization did not substantially contribute to local people’s livelihoods and promotion of forest sustainability. There is therefore an urgent need for sustainable forest management interventions and full implementation of the Uganda Forestry Policy of 2001 and the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act of 2003 could be a good starting point in this endeavor."
Decentralized Governance and Ecological Health: Why Local Institutions Fail to Moderate Deforestation in Mpigi District of Uganda
(2007) Banana, Abwoli Y.; Vogt, Nathan D.; Bahati, Joseph; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.
"The outcomes of decentralization policies on the delivery of forestry sector services and ecological health remain ambiguous. Several scholars warn that there is insufficient empirical data to support the assumption that decentralization of forest resources results in better or worse forest governance. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of local institutions crafted during the implementation of decentralization reforms of the mid-1990s in Mpigi District of Uganda to moderate forest degradation. We observed cases of both institutional success and failure in forestry management within the district following the decentralization reforms suggesting that decentralization of authority over forests to local user groups, traditional leaders, or officials of local governments may not always produce incentives to prevent a decline in forest extent or condition in the entire landscape. The outcomes of decentralization reforms in the forest sector may be more a function of factors such as 1) the nature of the forests, location, patchiness, and production of external environmental goods and services; 2) the level and strength of market signals for both forest products and crops grown on forest soils; and 3) the diversity of stakeholders and their values and dependence on specific extents and condition of the forest patch."
Effective Monitoring of Decentralized Forest Resources in East Africa
(2000) Banana, Abwoli Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Bahati, Joseph; Kajembe, George; Kihiyo, V. B. M. S.; Ongugo, Paul
"There is no doubt that state control of forest resources in many countries has proved to be ineffective in solving and halting the rate of deforestation. The financial and human resources available to government forest departments are inadequate to carry out the task of policing forested areas without the participation of local communities. "However, the success of decentralizing resources to local communities depends on solving three puzzles; the problem of supplying new institutions, the problem of credible commitment and the problem of mutual monitoring. "IFRI, studies in Uganda have known that monitoring and rule enforcement is very important for the success of decentralized forest resources (Banana and Gombya-Ssembajjwe 1999). Trying to understand how use-groups and/ or communities have monitored their own conformance to their agreements as well as their conformance to the rules in the E. African region is the challenge of this study. "The study revealed that an effective monitoring strategy involves having good incentives for the monitors and a mechanism to supervise or monitor the monitors themselves. Where effective was effective, there are few illegal activities, high basal area and the physical and biological condition of the CPR was expected to improve with time."
Forest Governance Reforms in Eastern Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Institutional, Livelihood and Forest Sustainability Outcomes
(2011) Banana, Abwoli Y.; Ongugo, Paul; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Tadesse, W. G.; Senbeta, Feyera; Namaalwa, J.; Luoga, E. J.; Bahati, Joseph; Mbwambo, L. A.; Gatzweiler, Franz W.
"As forests continue to decline globally and more so in the East African region, decentralization reforms that aim to improve rural livelihoods and conserve forests by transferring management powers to local communities and governments have occurred in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Unlike Tanzania, where decentralization reforms have been implemented for over a decade, the reforms in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda are still in their infancy. As a result, there is still little empirical understanding of its impacts on livelihoods, governance and forest conditions. Limited studies carried out in the region indicate that decentralization of the forest sector in the region has taken many different forms; from partial devolution of management responsibility to more profound devolution of ownership to communities. Similarly, the outcomes from these reform efforts also vary within and between countries. Livelihood outcomes are limited in areas where CFM, JFM and PFM are practiced and positive where CBFM is practiced. The outcomes of forest conditions under CFM, JFM and PFM are also mixed within and across the countries. Some forests have shown some improvements while others are continuing to be degraded. More forests under CBFM are showing improvement than the forests under JFM, PFM or CFM. Improvement in forest condition and livelihoods under CBFM may be due to improved enforcement of forest rules by the local communities because of strong security of tenure and better benefits that accrue to the communities that have CBFM arrangements."
Gender, Tenure and Community Forests in Uganda: Policy and Practice for Women's Participation
(2013) Banana, Abwoli Y.; Mukasa, Concepta; Tibazalika, Alice; Mwangi, Esther
"Despite the trend toward greater participation of communities in forest management, women have been largely shut out of decision making. Yet women depend on forest resources for subsistence, as safety nets and even for income. This study reviews policies, legal and institutional frameworks, organizations working in forests and district level governments to understand the extent to which Uganda's constitutional provisions supporting gender equality are being practiced. It finds important progress in gender mainstreaming but weak implementation at all levels. For example, the Forestry Policy, Forestry Act and Forestry Plan all address gender and women's specific needs. Nevertheless, institutional, legal and policy frameworks are not backed up by relevant legal provisions for ensuring compliance. Through interviews in three districts at varying distance from the capital Kampala, the study also examined the extent to which gender features in projects and programmes that involve forests. On the one hand, about three-quarters of organizations not specific to forestry had written gender policies and had strategies to promote gender integration, perhaps due to donor pressure as a condition for funding. Only one third of these organizations reported success. On the other hand, the majority of forest-specific organizations had no policy on gender and did not show any intention of promoting gender in forest management. At the district level, integrating gender in forest management activities was hindered by the limited number of women in technical and leadership positions, absence of the gender focal persons required by law, and inadequate knowledge and skills on gender equity issues by councilors and district technical staff. At community level, women's groups are supporting capacity building and access to loans from micro-finance institutions, which may improve women's ability to participate effectively in the management of forest resources. Nevertheless, all levels would benefit from the development of indicators for monitoring and the design of specific targeted gendered strategies for practitioners."
Local Governance and Forest Conditions: The Case of Forests in Mpigi District of Uganda
(2004) Banana, Abwoli Y.; Vogt, Nathan D.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Bahati, Joseph
"In this paper, we hypothesize that there is inadequate investment in monitoring and enforcement of forest harvesting regulations by the local governments leading to the degradation of forest resources in the country. Since local councils are the actors charged with implementing decentralization policies, in this paper we also seek to understand the incentives and constraints local politicians face in implementing the Local Government Act of 1997. We use a longitudinal strategy of collecting social, institutional, and ecological data collected from nine forests in Mpigi district in1994/95 and in 1999/2000. This period represents the first five years of implementation of the decentralization policy of 1994. "The data collected was used to assess the changes in rights and responsibilities, funding and staffing levels, incentives to manage, monitor, and enforce forest rules and regulations and the change in forest conditions following the implementation of the above policies. In the paper, we first present the background to the decentralization reforms in Uganda's forest sector. We then describe the forest estate in Mpigi district, one of the pilot districts where the decentralization policy was first implemented. We then report on sharing of roles and responsibilities between local governments and the central government and the subsequent decline in monitoring and rule enforcement due to limited financial and human capital by the local governments. Finally, using data collected from nine forests located in Mpigi district we report on forest conditions and how they are affected by the absence of effective forest rule enforcement by the decentralized district."
Multi-Stakeholder Governance in Land and Forestry in Uganda: Conflict Mitigation, Scale, Knowledge and Collective Action
(2008) Bahati, Joseph; Banana, Abwoli Y.; Ssembajjwe, William Gombya
"There is increasing public attention and debate about land tenure and forest degradation, privatization and encroachment on land, and forest governance in Uganda. Land tenure policy and the restoration of degraded private and public forest patches are crucial to this proposed research. Increased government and donor attention to land and forest governance in Uganda is expected to pave the way for greater investment in collaborative and decentralized land and forestry management in the foreseeable future. This research aims to investigate multi-stakeholder governance in land and forests in Uganda by specifically examining how researchers, managers, policy makers, and users co-operate. The proposed research will draw on the lessons learned and experience gained from the International Forestry Resources and Institutions/Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management case studies conducted at two settlements whose residents use Mabira Forest Reserve in Uganda. Biophysical data collection, participatory action research, and community risk assessments were carried out at community and household levels. Stakeholder workshops were conducted. Driven by different motivations, a range of actors, stakeholders, individuals, households, communities, collectives, civil society organizations, companies, and government (central and local) have engaged in diverse efforts to ensure that all Ugandans have access to land). Efforts are being made to protect, restore, afforestate or rehabilitate degraded forests, but degradation persists. Operating alone or in partnership with others, these actors and stakeholders have undertaken forest management on privatively owned, communally owned, and government-owned land. Some leveling of disparities in capabilities, information, and influence among partners and stakeholder groups exist. The scale and degree of organization, the types of knowledge brought to bear, and the manner by which these actors and stakeholders are mobilized to pursue common interests are a central concern. How do we best create an environment of trust that will mitigate the internal conflicts of the diverse range of goals and interests? Policies that do not take into account the common interests yet discuss goals and objectives are doomed to failure. It is very possible to create sustainable land and forest policies through the collaboration of all parties involved and plan for the long term. How responsible institutions are held accountable, share power, provide a competitive playing ground for all stakeholders, and ensures the equitable distribution of beneficial results is essential to the success of sustainable development."
Property Rights and the Sustainability of Forests in Uganda
(1998) Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Banana, Abwoli Y.
"Initial International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) research studies were carried out in Lwamunda government Forest Reserve and Namungo private Forest. One of the major objectives of the study was to determine the efficiency and sustainability of forest resources under different property rights regimes. The two forests selected are located in the same ecological system, and are used by the same local community. However, they differ in ownership and in the rules governing their use and management. The initial studies were conducted in 1993 and repeated in 1997. Data on the level of disturbance by consumptive withdraw of resources from the forest, diversity of plant species and size class distribution of trees in the forests under the two different institutional setups was collected using random sample plots. A total of 30 plots were studied in each forest. Data on social attributes of the communities using the forests studied was collected using the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methodology (Becker et al., 1995)."
Tree Tenure Insecurity and Deforestation in Uganda
(1994) Banana, Abwoli Y.
"Uganda's forest cover is estimated at 1,473 million hectares of gazetted forest and 2-3 million hectares of unreserved natural forest cover and savanna woodlands. These valuable forest resources are, however, disappearing rapidly. Deforestation in Uganda is estimated to occur at a rate of 500-650 Km2 annually and the rate has accelerated in recent times in spite of government effort to restrict the harvest of valuable trees. Tragically, the uncertainty resulting from changes in government policy may have contributed to this acceleration."
Understanding the Stability of Forest Reserve Boundaries in the West Mengo Region of Uganda
(2006) Vogt, Nathan D.; Banana, Abwoli Y.; Gombya-Ssembajjwe, William S.; Bahati, Joseph
"Despite heavy pressure and disturbance, state property regimes have stemmed deforestation within protected areas of the West Mengo region of Uganda for over 50 yr. In this manuscript, we reconstruct the process of creation and maintenance of forest reserve boundaries in the West Mengo region of Uganda to identify why these boundaries have largely remained stable over the long term under conditions in which they may be predicted to fail. The dramatic boundary stability in West Mengo we attribute to key aspects of institutional design and enforcement of boundaries."