Ugandan campaigners vow to keep on fighting for Bugoma forest

Residents and civil society groups have been waging a legal battle against a sugarcane development project.

Hoima, Uganda – Bagyenda Anatole walked briskly under the thinning canopy cover in Bugoma Central Forest Reserve. Along the narrow path, the remnants of butchered tree trunks bore testimony to the ongoing clearing of Uganda’s largest remaining block of natural tropical woodland. Since August 2020, when mechanical graders roared to life as part of a controversial sugarcane development project, residents and civil society groups under the Save Bugoma Forest campaign have been waging an uphill legal battle. A short walk from a parked bulldozer, police officers and private guards stationed in proximity of the Nsozi village have been preventing access to parts of the forest. Locals who depend on wood for domestic energy and as a source of livelihood have little choice but to trespass, Anatole said. Since the clearing of the forest began, vexed chimpanzees and herds of fleeing wildlife have attacked villagers in surrounding areas and raided their crops.