The recent sugar price hike has born much unrest, numerous demonstrations and prevalent dissatisfaction with the government. His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni responded with an attempt to once again push for his long held proposal of growing more sugarcane on the land currently occupied by Mabira forest reserve. He then provided a number of reasons to support this proposal. However, his proposal has once again sparked nation wide turbulence and discontent given that the government has an obligation to protect and maintain national forest reserves, an obligation which the president appears to be sidelining. Furthermore, Mabira Forest reserve is the largest tropical rain forest in East Africa and provides great ecological and economic benefit (in terms of tourism) to the country.
All Ugandans, lay men and politicians, both of the ruling party and the opposition agree that sugar prices need to be curbed. However, the president is alienated in his proposal to use Mabira land for sugarcane growth. In fact, never has the president received such great opposition on any proposal he as made as the kind he currently faces concerning the Mabira proposal. Nevertheless, the president does provide some substantial reasons for his proposal, reasons that cannot be simply ignored. Aside from the fact that this project would generate about 3500 jobs and contribute about UGX 11 billion to the treasury; other reasons include first and foremost the fact that the Mabira forest reserve land is the only piece of land owned by the government that is closest to the sugar factory. This would therefore ease the transportation costs of the harvested sugarcane to the factory, thereby lowering production costs, which in turn lowers the prices of...
... middle of paper ...
...cting the forest reserve. Also, because the project does not result in permanent damage of the land, whenever new methods to provide sugar are obtained in future, the land can be restored to the reserve and used to regrow the forest. This sugar problem has presented us with a case of the natural struggle that exists between the need to protect and preserve the environment as well as the need to satisfy human demand for resources, food, and agriculture. There should certainly be no single factor that ultimately takes precedence over the other. All these factors are to some extent equally important and whenever conflict develops between them, solutions that seek to harmonize these factors should be sought and implemented rather than choosing to either do nothing or acting rashly.
Works Cited
Rulekere, Gerald. The Politics of Sugar. UGPulse, 2011. Web. 11/29/11.
The government needs to intervene now and stop this practice before the wildlife in South Florida is driven into extinction. The soil of south Florida is not ideal for sugar production therefore this production should be relocated to other parts of the countries with soils that favour...
One of the largest issues facing the Global South today is food security. In many cases food security is closely associated with agriculture in a specific area. Due to several issues faced by post war agriculture in Sierra Leone a food security issue has arisen leading to income/consumption poverty. One of the issues facing in Sierra Leone is the number of citizens choosing to work in the mining industry as opposed to working in agriculture. Another issue faced by the agriculture industry in Sierra Leone is the displacement of many farm families due to the civil war and the affect it has on food production. The agriculture industry in Sierra Leone also faces this issue of rice importation into the country which lowers the income of farmers. These issues faced by the agriculture sector in Sierra Leone have lead to problems with food security and poverty.
Governments in these countries need to stop thinking of forests as a renewable resource. The rate at which they are harvesting these areas drives them beyond the boundaries of sustainability. The efforts required by reforestation may not initially be cost effective, but it will result in not only the survivability of the environment, but of the country’s economy. Widespread awareness of these ideas will help fight against the natural human tendency towards instant gratification and short-term goals. Different methods of logging can be utilized to allow the rainforests to survive and regrow naturally and at a sustainable
Another solution is tourism. Ecotourism programs are available for those who adopt so that they may see their land and experience the true beauty of the forests. By touring the land, one prevents actions such as poaching, illegal wood harvesting and burning, and drug-runners with secret airstrips in the north jungle. Conclusion Now is the time to voice your opinion concerning the deforestation of these tropical regions.
"Uganda - African Economic Outlook." African Economic Outlook - Measuring the Pulse of Africa. 06 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. .
The country of Uganda is a struggling nation and has adversities with their living conditions, economy, and politics. Uganda uses a republic form of government. It has a mixed legal system of English common law and customary law. The country has a plethora of natural resources “including fertile soils, regular rainfall, small deposits of copper, gold, and other minerals, and recently discovered oil” (“CIA World Factbook”).The country itself has the potential to become wealthy and more powerful, but before you can access and use these resources, you first need to improve the living conditions for the people of the country. In order to do this the country is currently attempting to stabilize the economy by undertaking an economic reform. However, “unreliable power, high energy costs, inadequate transportation infrastructure, and corruption inhibit economic development and investor confidence”(CIA World Factbook). Once again, many small things need to be changed and fixed before the achievement of the final goal of improving the economy is remotely possible. Overall the...
It was on the 4th of August 1972 when the president of Uganda Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of his country’s Asian Minority giving them not more than 90 days to get out if his country. The ethnic cleansing of Indians in Uganda was conducted by the government which claimed that the Indians were hovering and hoarding the wealth and goods of Ugandan and for that they were bringing down the Uganda economy. Many of the British Asians were brought to Uganda during the imperial period of the British empire. These people were brought to do clerical work in imperial service or unskilled manual labor such as construction. In the 1890’s, 32,000 laborers from British India were brought to south east Africa under indentured labor contracts to work on
Despite the many obstacles that Uganda’s people must overcome, this extraordinary country has a rich history filled with remarkable traditions and devastating conflicts that give it the distinct character it has developed over time.
Deforestation is a widely used term, but one with different meanings. Disturbance deforestation refers to all man made disturbances that alter a forest, these are the most common. This argumentative essay discusses the positive and negative aspects of deforestation. In the first part of the essay the pro arguments of deforestation will be discussed. For example, the issue of Global population and how forests are being used, land use and the ways forests contribute, wood use, forest growth, destruction and the reasons for cutting down the trees. The second half of the essay will cover the issues that are harmful to the environment because of deforestation. Many environmental issues take place everyday; a big question that arises, is if the global economy will ever finds middle on the issue of forest thinning. If deforestation was used only in the most crucial of times, the world might become a better place.
The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn causes climate changes everywhere around the world. Undiscovered species can hold the key to curing a plethora of diseases, but if those species become extinct, those keys are lost forever. If nothing is done to prevent this, the world’s treasure trove of bio-diversity will cease to exist, creating irreversible damage to not only the South American people, but also the rest of the world. Conversion of the tropical forest into cropland and pasture began a long time ago in Ecuador, before its secession from Spain. Their major crop was cocoa, which was grown along the waterways to be exported as their main source of trade.
There are many potential land uses for the Tambopata Reserve. One of which, that gains much environmentalist backing, is slash and burn agriculture. While this method of agriculture has long traditionally been employed and is seen as “greener,” many are misinformed of its methods and potential for environmental destruction. Slash and burn agriculture declines soil fertility as biomass is extracted, which leads to increases in runoff and eventually desertification. Furthermore, the desiccation of single stands of forested areas for this type of agriculture promotes local extinctions and loss of biodiversity. Once the land is exhausted, it is then left, only for another stand to be destroyed. This predictable loss of land can be avoided by employing the sustainable farming of soybeans. Soybean production has a higher potential to both increase economic prosperity and environmental quality (Dooyou).
Restate thesis: In reality forests are better left alone, forests provide the earth with a regulated climate, strong biodiversity, and good nutrient rich soil for plants to strive on.
Like a fairy tale at the top of a railroad, Uganda is a land of pristine beauty and astonishing ecosystems. From tall volcanic peeks in the East and Western borders, to the wetlands of the Albert Nile River, and the densely growth of rainforests of the North; Uganda has a rich soil that combined with its geographical location of central Africa has the ability to have coffee that has become both a mainstay of the agricultural economy and a favorite of connoisseurs around the world. The languages of English and Swahili, combined with mixtures of cultural dialects that exist throughout the nation, the religions of traditional African belief structures and Christianity are the main two of the region. I have chosen this country due to its economic solidarity and independence from outside requirements being self-sufficient for goods for one of the longest periods of African history.
There are multiple agricultural development projects taking place in Sri Lanka including the UNDP Sri Lanka Community Programme, the Agro-Economic Development Project, and government projects. The UNDP Sri Lanka Community Programme is a four-year project designed to improve the management of natural resources. They hope to support the people’s livelihood and help reduce poverty in agricultural areas. They plan to do this through the reduction of deforestation and forest degradation along with replantation of forests that will benefit 10,000 households directly. They see forests and the benefits they bring to be important to the people and agricultural community of Sri Lanka [6].
According to Ministry of finance and planning, 61.2% Ugandans in rural areas survive on less than one US dollar per day. This is a very big percentage which needs an intervening policy but the government seem unbothered.