[{"bbox": [82, 111, 1116, 193], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action will mainly target SDG: Life on land (SDG 15) while contributing to other significant SDGs: Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8); Climate Action (SDG 13); Peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), Gender Equality (SDG5); Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12)."}, {"bbox": [82, 229, 1147, 339], "category": "Text", "text": "The action is aligned with the main EU policies in the forestry sector – Green Deal¹, Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World's Forests², Farm to Fork Strategy³, Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Circular Economy Strategy⁴ – while directly contributing to several programmes of the National Development Plan III⁵, the revised National Determined Contributions⁶ and the forest policies of Uganda⁷."}, {"bbox": [72, 391, 302, 424], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2. RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [87, 454, 216, 481], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [82, 523, 1147, 605], "category": "Text", "text": "According to data from 2020, forests cover is about 2.3 million ha or 12% of Uganda's land area⁸. 31% of this forest cover is classified as tropical high forest, 61% as woodland and 8% as plantations. In terms of tenure, 62% is protected forest and falls under public management and 38% is private forest."}, {"bbox": [82, 629, 1147, 684], "category": "Text", "text": "Since 1990, 59% of the total forest cover has been lost with the highest losses occurring in the category of private forest (77%, versus 22% for public forest)."}, {"bbox": [82, 709, 1147, 817], "category": "Text", "text": "The country's needs for wood fuel, and variety of wood products (construction timber, poles, panels, pulp and paper products) are increasing while concomitantly the capacity of Uganda's forests to provide habitats for flora and fauna, and helping mitigate climate change, is decreasing. The importance of forest products and services for Uganda and its population can be illustrated by the following figures and statistics:"}, {"bbox": [82, 817, 1147, 870], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Forest ecosystems are Uganda's principal source of energy since woody biomass accounts for 78% of energy production. (Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, 2016)"}, {"bbox": [82, 870, 1147, 923], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Demand of industrial wood products especially for construction and consumer goods is increasing and the East African region has become a net importer of wood products"}, {"bbox": [82, 923, 1147, 976], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The total financial contribution of forests to Uganda's economy in 2018/2019 was estimated at UGX 593 billion, equivalent to 5.2% of the GDP. (Ministry of Water and Environment - MWE, 2016)⁹"}, {"bbox": [82, 976, 1147, 1027], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The forest's watershed protection and carbon sequestration services are valued at UGX 117.2 billion (MWE, 2016)."}, {"bbox": [82, 1027, 1147, 1136], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Forestry contributes to tourism revenue, employment, and household income. Several sources¹⁰ indicate estimations for the number of people employed in the forestry sector of one million, with only 100,000 (10%) in formal employment. The informal jobs in the forest sector represent an important contribution to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people who are rural based and most often economically marginalized."}, {"bbox": [82, 1161, 1147, 1269], "category": "Text", "text": "Looking at the major drivers of deforestation in Uganda, the following are identified as key: unsustainable agricultural expansion, urban area expansion, wood fuel extraction and illegal logging from natural forests, artisanal mining and oil extraction, wildfires, livestock free range grazing, human migrations, refugee influx, weak enforcement of laws and regulations and overall poor forest governance."}, {"bbox": [82, 1293, 1138, 1374], "category": "Text", "text": "From a gender point of view, women are important actors in forest management. Evidence suggests that women, who are among the poorest of the poor, and who depend on forest resources for subsistence, as safety nets and even for income, continue to be marginalised in processes of rulemaking in many partnership arrangements, including"}, {"bbox": [72, 1411, 211, 1433], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹ COM(2019) 640"}, {"bbox": [72, 1434, 211, 1456], "category": "Footnote", "text": "² COM(2019) 352"}, {"bbox": [72, 1456, 211, 1476], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ COM(2020) 381"}, {"bbox": [72, 1477, 202, 1498], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ COM(2020) 98"}, {"bbox": [72, 1498, 724, 1521], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ http://www.npa.go ug/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NDPIII-Finale_Compressed.pdf"}, {"bbox": [72, 1521, 849, 1543], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/NDC/2022-09/Updated%20NDC%20_Uganda_2022%20Final.pdf"}, {"bbox": [72, 1543, 1060, 1565], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁷ National Forest Policy (2001), National Forestry Plan (2012), National Forestry and Tree Planting Act (2003), Wildlife Act (2019)"}, {"bbox": [72, 1565, 647, 1588], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸ FAO Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), 2020 - reported by NFA"}, {"bbox": [72, 1588, 827, 1612], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹ In \"Forest Resource Utilization Transformation (FRUT) Project Document\", MWE, 2021"}, {"bbox": [72, 1612, 506, 1636], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ State of Uganda Forests, MWE/FAO/DfID, 2016."}, {"bbox": [1051, 1662, 1158, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 23"}]