Combating deforestation and forest degradation in Uganda requires more than tree planting; it demands a coordinated, long-term approach that addresses the root causes and strengthens systems to protect and restore forest ecosystems.

Uganda continues to lose significant forest cover from agricultural expansion, illegal logging, charcoal production, infrastructure development, and weak enforcement of forest laws. Population pressure and heavy reliance on biomass energy further accelerate forest degradation, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. Without urgent and sustained action, these trends threaten biodiversity, water catchments, climate resilience, and livelihoods.

“We are implementing the Forest Crime Project with the ENRCSO Network partners, and that is Training, Education and Empowerment for Neighborhood Sustainability (TEENS) and TOORO Civil Society Organization Network (TOORONET), and what I would say is that this is a small initiative under the bigger project, mainly targeting to bring the youth and the women to the forefront of fighting our national forest crisis. I want to thank our donors, and also appreciate the Ministry of Water and  Environment for the very good working relationship we have had,” said the Program Manager at Environmental Alert, Carolyne Kirabo.

According to Carolyne, Uganda’s population is predominantly youthful, with young people accounting for about 78% of the citizenry. However, a significant proportion of this demographic remains unemployed. Among those who are employed, many are engaged in the forestry sector, where jobs are largely informal and make up a substantial share of employment.

“If people are looking for quick cash and to get quick gains just to survive, these are some of the practices that they are going to resort to, and largely they are illegal practices, so since we target the criminal judicial systems, prosecutors, which is also very important, we don’t negate to target Decentralised Forest Management (DFM), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), it’s very important, but it is also critical that we go to the very local level and really understand what are the dynamics and the players and the drivers at that level and how exactly can we be able to support them to participate, but then also find solutions because they are the custodians of these resources,” Carolyne said.

She also mentioned that, for that reason, Environmental Alert took on CSO coordination and public awareness tasks. TEENS Uganda is building capacity for young people with all these interesting ideas, art, and other activities. And then ACCU, managing the aspect of monitoring, and finally, TOORONET is strengthening the CSO component in Masindi District, Kikuube, and Rubirizi districts, targeting Budongo, Bugoma, and Kasyoha-kitomi central Forest Reserves. And, nevertheless revealing that the main people behind most forest crimes are often backed by powerful individuals in government. At the same time, the people most affected by forest destruction are the vulnerable groups, especially women and girls, who depend on forests for resources and their daily livelihoods. 

The European Union, as Uganda’s biggest partner, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Denmark, which are currently on board, have intensified efforts to combat forest crime through a range of initiatives focused on strengthening law enforcement, enhancing monitoring systems, and promoting international cooperation to curb illegal logging and deforestation.

“This Civil Society component that we have in the project, which we were able to partner with Environmental Alerts, ACCU, dedicated to corruption prevention component in the project, and then of course we have TEENS Uganda and TOORONET. We are very pleased to have them on board, and so we’re very much looking forward to hearing about some of those findings that I know will inform the subsequent activities. So I hope that everyone here is as engaged and as ready to absorb some of these findings,” the Programme Coordinator for Forest Crime at UNODC, Alejandra Euceda, said in her remarks on behalf of UNODC.

Alejandra noted that, on behalf of UNODC, the organization remains committed to supporting key priority areas under the project in partnership with Environmental Alert and other stakeholders, with particular emphasis on youth and women’s engagement. She highlighted that while several activities have already been undertaken, the current engagement marks what she described as the first substantive kickoff meeting for the initiative.

Youth unemployment remains one of Uganda’s most pressing challenges, with new data showing that young people continue to bear the greatest burden in the country’s labour market, with youth unemployment standing at about 18% among those aged 15-24, and among older youth between 18-30 years is estimated to be at around 16.1%, more than five times the national average.

“Most of the people involved in criminal activities in forestry are actually youth by default, because if they are the majority in the country, you know, then it is likely that they could also be involved in the forest crimes. We analyzed what the forest crimes are and what kind of cases we have out there in the courts of law as we were starting these components,” the Assistant Commissioner for Forestry at the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), Bob Kazungu, said during the High-level dialogue on Youth and Women Against Forest Crime.

Assistant Commissioner Bob also noted that it had come to the attention of the Ministry that the majority of cases identified in the survey involved individuals aged between 25 and 34 years, an age bracket that falls within the youth category. He emphasized the importance of targeting this group, underscoring the need for the government to work closely with young people to prevent their involvement in illegal activities and to curb the steadily rising numbers.

Forest crimes ranging from illegal logging and charcoal burning to land encroachment and wildlife trafficking continue to accelerate deforestation and environmental degradation across Uganda. Authorities warn that without strong community involvement, efforts to protect forest reserves may fall short.

“Youth and women are always excluded from decision-making that governs our forests, but we also need to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to ensure that their advocacy efforts, their awareness raising, are streamlined to ensure that forest crimes are well reported on, documented, and also followed up in the legal and judicial bodies. The Programs and Partnership Coordinator at Environmental Alert, Atwine Peninah, said during her presentation.

According to Peninah Atwine, the engagement serves a dual purpose, functioning both as an inception meeting and a validation platform for the baseline study findings. She emphasized the importance of scaling up public awareness on forest crime through strategic media engagement. This will include targeted local media outreach, television talk shows, and spot messages designed to reach a broader audience and drive behavior change.

In addition, the project will convene quarterly meetings with key stakeholders, including adjacent forest users such as CFM groups and local government representatives. These engagements will provide regular updates on forest rights, share progress, and track the achievements of the project. Finally, she noted that the development and dissemination of Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials will be prioritized to further strengthen awareness, knowledge sharing, and community engagement in combating forest crime.

Across many parts of Africa, including countries with forest-dependent communities like Uganda, awareness of forest crime among youth and women is rising. Among youth, awareness tends to be shaped by education, media, and growing global conversations around Climate Change. On the reflection on the findings from a baseline study on the Forest Crime project to inform validation by state (MoWE) and non-state actors (CSO) by the ENR-CSO network partnership, 

“The whole idea was basically to generate evidence on existing awareness, capacities, practices, and institutional arrangements related to forest fire prevention, sustainable forest management, and advocacy to establish benchmarks and inform effective implementation, monitoring, and adaptive management of forests in the project intervention areas,” the team leader at TEENS Uganda, Hamba Richard, said during the findings made in the baseline report.

According to Richard, it was important for the project to assess the current levels of awareness and perceptions among youth, women, and other community members regarding forest crime; its social, economic, and gender impacts; existing legal and policy frameworks; and sustainable forest management practices in the project areas. Then two, basically to establish the existing knowledge, skills, and technical capacities of youth and women to participate in forest crime prevention, reporting, and sustainable forest management initiatives. Thirdly, document current community practices and mechanisms for monitoring, reporting, and documenting forest crimes, including the roles of community members, challenges faced, and linkages with relevant authorities.

According to Richard, the project emphasizes the need for a comprehensive assessment built around several key priorities.

  1.  First, he noted the importance of evaluating the current level of awareness and perceptions among youth, women, and other community members regarding forest crime. This includes understanding how communities perceive their social, economic, and gender-related impacts, as well as their knowledge of existing legal and policy frameworks and sustainable forest management practices within the project areas.
  2. Second, he highlighted the need to establish the existing knowledge, skills, and technical capacities of youth and women to actively participate in forest crime prevention, reporting, and broader sustainable forest management initiatives. This step is critical in identifying both gaps and opportunities for meaningful engagement.
  3. Third, Richard emphasized the importance of documenting current community practices and mechanisms for monitoring, reporting, and recording forest crimes. This involves examining the roles played by different community members, the challenges they face, and the extent of their linkages with relevant authorities.
  4. Fourth, he pointed out the need to analyze the existing roles, capacity, and effectiveness of civil society organizations and community-based groups that are advocating against forest crime. This includes assessing the strength of their networks, partnerships, and levels of collaboration with both state and non-state actors involved in forest governance.
  5. Finally, he stressed the importance of identifying key gaps, barriers, and opportunities related to awareness, capacity, community engagement, and advocacy that may influence the implementation and overall success of the project interventions.

To support these objectives, a rapid methodology was applied, allowing for a timely but insightful assessment of community perspectives, institutional capacity, and on-the-ground realities within the project areas.

The Judiciary of Uganda plays a central role in upholding the rule of law, resolving disputes, and prosecuting offenders; however, if there are delays in prosecuting forest crime cases, this often allows offenders to evade punishment, weakening deterrence efforts.

“There is no doubt of the forest governance gaps: weak capacity to tackle forest crime, illegal land titles, slow court processes, outdated CFM agreements, limited green financing, delayed tree valuation standards, low community involvement in demarcation, Human Resource gaps, and poor feedback on forest crime cases, making it a challenge to the enforcement team.”Byakuyamba Peter highlighted these key issues raised during District engagements on Forest crime. 

What you need to know.

Strengthening Youth and Women’s Action Against Forest Crime is a component of the Uganda – European Union Forest Partnership, with a major initiative aimed at tackling deforestation and promoting sustainable forest management. The YWAFC initiative is obligated to;

  1. Increase public awareness among Youths, women, and communities on forest crime.
  2. Build knowledge and technical capacities of youths and women to effectively participate in forest crime prevention and sustainable forest management.
  3. Enhance community monitoring, reporting, and documentation of forest crime in Uganda.
  4. Strengthening the advocacy role of civil society in combating forest crime through networks and partnerships among state and non-state actors.