Uganda Forestry Policy 2001.

The overall Vision of the present cross-sectoral Forest Policy is formulated as follows: “A sufficiently forested, ecologically stable and economically prosperous Uganda”. Part 2 concerns Guiding Principles for the Forest Sector building on the government's national development priorities of poverty eradication and good governance. The Forestry Policy is consistent with the national objectives and directive principles guiding sustainable development found in the Constitution and Vision 2015: Article XIII (Protection of Natural Resources) regarding the protection of important natural resources on behalf of the people of Uganda; Article XXVII (The Environment) regarding: the needs for sustainable management of land, air and water resources; the use of natural resources to meet development and environment needs; the promotion of sustainable energy polices; the creation of parks and reserves for conservation of natural resources; the protection of biodiversity. The Guiding Principles of the present Policy are, inter alia: Conservation and Sustainable Development; Livelihoods and Poverty; Biodiversity and Environmental Services; Gender and Equity; Cultural and Traditional Institutions; Forestry Valuation; Partnership in Governance dealing with the role of central government, local government, private sector, local communities and farmers, role of NGO’s.Part 3 lays down provisions relating to Forestry Policy Statements establishing its Goal as follows: “An integrated forest sector that achieves sustainable increases in the economic, social and environmental benefits from forests and trees by all the people of Uganda, especially the poor and vulnerable.” These Statements establishe a distinction between Forestry on government land (Policy Statements 1) and Forestry on private land (Policy Statement 2). Within this framework, policy statements are then set out for the development of: Commercial forest plantations (Policy Statement 3); Forest products processing industries (Policy Statement 4); Collaborative forest management (Policy Statement 5); Farm forestry (Policy Statement 6); Forest biodiversity conservation (Policy Statement 7); Watershed management (Policy Statement 8); Urban forestry (Policy Statement 9); Education, training and research (Policy Statement 10); Supply of tree seed and planting material (Policy Statement 11). For each of these, a range of strategies to implement the policy statement is then listed based on the guiding principles set out in section 2.Part 4 sets out key elements of support for the implementation of this Forestry Policy. These are: Sector-Wide Planning (A); Sector Investment (B); Sector Co-ordination (C); Institutional Reform (D); Forestry Legislation (E); Gender and Equity (F); International and Regional Co-operation (G); Sector Monitoring and Evaluation (H).The text consists of 4 Parts as follows: Background to the Forestry Policy (1); Guiding Principles for the Forest Sector (2); Forestry Policy Statement (3); Support for implementing the Forestry Policy (4).

Implemented by: National Forest Plan 2002. (2002)