Uganda Heritage News: Government orders for eviction of forest encroachers

Ultimate Media

The government has issued an eviction order against all encroachers living in forest reserves around the country.

The State Minister for Environment, Flavia Nabugere says the rate at which the country’s forest reserves are being encroached on is quite alarming.

She says there are currently 360,000 people living in the country’s 540 forest reserves, most of who claim to be war veterans.

She says, the rate of encroachment on the forests has to be stopped to check the effects of climate change already being witnessed with the prolonged drought periods and unreliable rains.

Minister Nabugere says, government will soon engage the environmental police to effect the evictions from the reserves to check the dangerous trend.

Meanwhile, the Timber Growers Association says its members are losing huge amounts of money to encroachers on forests.

The Timber Growers chairman, Baker Katambila says that they invest a lot of money in planting trees, which they often lose to encroachers claiming to be war veterans who cut them to create space for settlement.

Katambile says, the government has a duty to protect these trees which make a contribution to its revenues but also in protection of the environment.