At the expense of democracy

About 70 per cent of forests in Uganda lie outside of protected areas, owned by private individuals and companies, but with oversight decentralised to the district local governments. Due to insufficient human and logistical resources, local government institutions do not enforce forestry regulations effectively and so deforestation outside protected areas remains high about 2.6 per cent annually. This research focused on a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) pilot project implemented in Western Uganda, targeting forests outside protected areas. Results indicate that NGOs and the central government are using such projects to establish their influence over local decision-making processes and, in the process, override the mandate and knowledge of the local stakeholders. In Uganda, high rates of deforestation are partly attributed to the land tenure system that gives complete control to private landowners and limits state control.