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Livelihood, Land And Investment

Ecological land grab: food vs fuel vs forests

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The overlapping crises of climate change, mass species extinction, and an unsustainable global food system are on a collision course towards what might best be called an ecological land grab.
Coping with each of these problems will require a different way of using of Earth’s lands, and as experts crunch the numbers it is becoming unnervingly clear that there may not be enough terra firma to go around.
A world of narrowing options threatens to pit biofuels, forests and food production against each other.
Experts who once touted “win-win” scenarios for the environment now talk about “trade-offs”.
This looming clash is front-and-center in the most comprehensive scientific assessment ever compiled of how global warming and land use interact, to be released by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Thursday
Proposals to convert areas the size of India and the United States to biofuel crops or CO2-absorbing trees, for example, “could compromise sustainable development with increased risks — and potentially irreversible consequences — for food security, desertification and land degradation,” a draft summary of the 1,000-page report warns.
Meanwhile, the fundamental drivers of Earth’s environmental meltdown — CO2 and methane emissions, nitrogen and plastics pollution, human population, unbridled consumption — continue to expand at record rates, further reducing our margin for manoeuvre.
Case in point: to have at least a 50/50 chance of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) -– the temperature guardrail laid down in a landmark IPCC report last year -– civilisation must be “carbon neutral” within three decades.
Earth’s surface temperature has already risen one degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, enough to trigger deadly extreme weather and sea level rise that could swamp coastal megacities by 2100.
And yet, 2018 saw a record 41.5 billion tonnes of planet-warming CO2 added to the atmosphere, up to two percent from the previous record, set the year before.
– Harsh reality –
At this pace, humanity will exhaust its “carbon budget” for a 1.5 C world before US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, turns 45 (in 16 years).
Slashing carbon pollution remains the surest way to curb climate change, but — absent a sustained crash of the global economy — that can no longer happen quickly enough to singlehandedly keep global warming in check.
This harsh reality has put a spotlight on two ambitious schemes that would cover millions of square kilometres of land with CO2-absorbing plants.
Nearly all Paris-compatible climate models slot in a major role for a two-step process that draws down carbon by growing biofuels and then captures CO2 released when the plants are burned to generate energy.
The amount of “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage”, or BECCS, required in coming decades will depend on how quickly we sideline fossil fuels and shrink our carbon footprints.
The new IPCC report, for example, outlines two scenarios based on the reasonable assumption that the world will continue to be dominated by “resource-intensive consumption patterns,” as least in the coming decades.
Capping global warming at 1.5 C under these circumstances would require converting some 7.6 million square kilometres (km2) -– more than double India’s land mass –- to BECCS. Even if temperatures were allowed to climb twice as high, the report concluded, biofuels would still need to cover some 5 million km2.
A second proposal unveiled last month calls for blanketing an area equivalent to the United States (including Alaska) with new trees, nearly 10 million km2.
– ‘Moral hazard’ –
“Forest restoration is the best climate change solution available today,” said Tom Crowther, a professor at the university ETH Zurich. “If we act now, this could cut carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 25 percent, to levels last seen almost a century ago.”
Crowther’s “trillion tree” initiative made headlines but has come in for a drubbing.
His calculations, according to several climate scientists, appear to assume that every tonne of CO2 stored in replanted trees would be a tonne of CO2 removed from the atmosphere. In fact, the ratio is 2:1 due to the nature of Earth’s carbon cycle, which vastly reduces the scheme’s projected benefits.
In addition, it takes decades for trees to reach their maximum CO2-absorbing potential, as the authors themselves point out.
Other critics warn against the “moral hazard” of an apparently simple solution that may dampen resolve to purge fossil fuels from the global economy, a danger underscored, perhaps, by the enthusiasm of oil and gas giants for planting trees.
“Heroic reforestation can help, but it is time to stop suggesting there is a ‘nature-based solution’ to ongoing fossil fuel use,” noted Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at the University of Oxford. “There isn’t.”
The sharpest objections -– which may also apply to BECCS –- had to do with assumptions made about the type and quantity of land available for reforestation.
“It might sound like a good idea, but planting trees in savannahs and grasslands would be damaging,” Kate Parr and Caroline Lehmann from, respectively, the Universities of Liverpool and Edinburgh, commented recently in a blog.
The landscapes of lions, giraffes and vast herds of wildebeest cover more than 20 percent of Earth’s land surface and can be as rich in biodiversity as tropical forests.
They are also home to a billion people, many of whom grow crops and raise livestock.
  
– ‘Great Food Transformation’ –
Carpeting savannahs with trees would destroy unique ecosystems, threaten species with extinction, and upend the lives of millions of people, the researchers warned.
But the bottom-line question for humanity is whether these proposals will leave enough land to ensure the next generation has enough to eat.
“We project that under ‘business-as-usual’ growth, 9.8 billion people by 2050 would require 56 percent more food relative to 2010,” said Fred Stolle, an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of the UN-backed report, Creating a Sustainable Food Future.
“That would require clearing nearly six million square kilometres” –- ten times the area of France — “of additional forests for conversion to agriculture,” two-thirds for pasture land, and one-third for crops, he told AFP.
But the same food system that has helped to halve global hunger, Stolle points out, is no longer sustainable: it accounts for 25 to 30 percent of greenhouse gases, and is choking the life from fresh and coastal waterways with nitrogen.
“To have any chance of feeding ten billion people in 2050 within planetary boundaries, we must adopt a healthy, plant-based diet, cut food waste, and invest in technologies that reduce environmental impacts,” Johan Rockstrom, former director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Change Impact Research told AFP.
But whether that “great food transformation” is compatible with plant-based schemes to suck CO2 out of the air remains uncertain.

Livelihood, Land And Investment

Tension as over 3000 people face unlawful eviction in Lwengo district.

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By Witness Radio team

As illegal land evictions escalate in Uganda, land speculators and grabbers with the help of District Land Boards, continue to target and grab land for the less privileged communities.

Section 60 (2c) of the Land Act CAP 22 states that the District Land Board is mandated to manage all public lands in the district, and it has powers to sell, lease, or otherwise deal with the land held by it, among others. 

Witness Radio has documented scenarios where District Land Boards give away communities’ land they have lived on for decades without providing alternative settlements. 

In Kiboga district, Flavia Kizito, a Senior Secretary to the District Land Board, irregularly issued three leases on land belonging to a family of the late Edirisa Kyakulagira in 2018 and 2019. 

In yet another shocking news, there’s a looming forced eviction on land belonging to over 3000 residents in three villages, Kalagala Parish, Malongo sub-county in Lwengo district whose livelihood has been entirely dependent on their land.

The subsistence farming communities have lived on the public land undisturbed for decades until February 2022, when different groups started targeting and claiming land ownership.

Local farmers accuse land speculators and brokers that have compromised with some of their peers to work for them and grab their land measuring 153 acres in Kawule, Kasagazi, and Lugologolo villages.

We have been on this land for so long, and we are wondering how those people acquired its title. We heard rumors that the so-called Bamwesigye and Mwebesa are behind selling us, but we have nowhere to go. We are ready to defend it.” Said Kosi Joseph, the Lugologolo Chairman and one of the affected persons. 

He added that he has lived on his land for over 32 years.

Residents learned of a looming eviction on WhatsApp Message sent to one of the area’s Councilor Herbert Ssekabira by an unknown person, reading that “the land on which the villages sit belongs to them.”

Mr. Ssekabira, upon receiving the sad news, informed the community and prompted them to seek assistance from our leaders to stop the land grab. The WhatsApp message said the land was bought in 2014 and later acquired a leasehold in 2022.” Mr. Kosi further added.

Kittatta Ibrahim, the Lwengo district Local Council Five (5) chairperson, informed the community that investigations surrounding the acquisition of their land had commenced immediately. He added that they intend to lodge a caveat on the said land.

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Livelihood, Land And Investment

Breaking; Lands Minister directs police chief to arrest armed mobs involved in forced and illegal land evictions.

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By Witness Radio team

Uganda’s Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Martins Okoth Ochola to arrest all organized and armed mobs involved in forced and illegal land evictions.

The directive is the second one from the same minister to the police chief in three (3) months due to widespread forced and illegal land evictions in Uganda.

On February 28, 2022, President Yoweri Museveni came out and banned all land evictions in the country that are carried out without the consent of the respective District Security Committees (DSC).

The latest directive was triggered by violent scenes that occurred on the 19th of March 2023 when armed groups of men with graders invaded the St peter’s Church of Uganda’s land in Kibiri and started destroying crops planted on the church land. The armed group whose employer is not yet established claims the church is occupying someone’s land illegally.

In an attempt to stop the unlawful eviction, Church leaders, led by Reverend Maxwell Ssebuggwawo and some faithful tried to intervene but in vain.

According to eyewitnesses, the armed group immediately attacked the Clergyman and other Christians causing severe bodily injuries. In the scuffle, Rev. Maxwell Ssebuggwawo’s vestments were torn by the mob, whom the community believes was being targeted.

In response to the violent attack against the church leader and congregation, the minister observed that many land grabbers have resorted to using organized and armed mobs to evict people from their land. She further describes eviction as illegal and unacceptable since the government has capable security agencies that can effect lawful evictions.

“We have noted incidents where some crooks employ mobs to evict people yet we have security forces that can do this concerning the law. This is wrong. I have therefore directed the IGP to arrest everybody involved in these illegal acts and be brought to book”, the Minister added in an interview with the local media.

Witness Radio in the recent past has documented incidents where organized and armed mobs are participating in violent land evictions.  For instance, a recent eviction of a 99-year-old Hellena Namazzi in Numugongo in Kira Municipality in Wakiso district by Sema Properties boss, Ssemakula Sulait, another ugly case involved a violent eviction of over 2000 people off 328.1 hectares by one Moses Karangwa and Abid Alam in Kassanda district among others.

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Livelihood, Land And Investment

Over 500 Kapapi families in Hoima district remain stranded after the district security committee fails to resettle them back on their land as directed by the minister.

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By Witness Radio team.

Hundreds of families, violently evicted from their land in Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties in Hoima district are still pondering their next moves as efforts to return to their grabbed land remain ambiguous.

The directive came after Hoima district police and private guards from Magnum, a private security company raided people’s homes in Waaki North, Kapapi Central, Waaki South, Runga, and Kiryatete villages in Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties, Hoima district on 10th of February 2023 at 1:00 am.

The violent scenes left hundreds of children with scores of injuries, houses were torched, and property worth billions was destroyed.  The animals such as goats, sheep, and cows were butchered and others were looted.

On 22nd of February 2023, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Honorable Judith Nabakooba while addressing a meeting in Rukola village Kapapi sub-county, Hoima district directed the security committee to return the victim villagers back to their land.

She considered the eviction unlawful since it was conducted at night and without a court order.

In that meeting, area leaders, Hoima district police and Hoima Resident District commissioner, Mr. Rogers Mbabazi, Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr. Michael Kyakashari were in attendance.

The victim community accuses a group of people including Ndahura Gafayo, Aston Muhwezi, David Mpora, Monica Rwashadika, Agaba, and Wilber Kiiza of being responsible for the land grab.

The grabbed land is situated at the shores of Lake Albert adjacent to the Kabaale parish in Buseruka Sub-county where the greenfield oil refinery is to be established. In April 2018, the government selected the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium (AGRC) as the private sector investment to finance, develop, construct, and operate the Greenfield oil Refinery estimated to cost $4b.

According to the Witness Radio research team, ever since the directive was made instead, there’s increased human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, detentions and threats, and intimidation against victims of residents encamped at Rwenyana Church to vacate.

The evictees report that after the minister’s directive, three community members include; Mbombo Steven, and Kalongo Steven have been arrested, charged, and remanded to Hoima government prison.

“Our families encamping at church and waiting to be resettled back as directed by the Minister are facing further threats and intimidation to go away. They say they don’t want us at the church. Some of us are currently in hiding for fear of arbitrary arrests or kidnaps.” A community member who preferred to be called Enos due to fear of retaliation told Witness Radio.

He further added that the community is living at the mercy of God, with no food, or shelter, and predicted an uncertain future for their children since they are not attending school.

“Families are scattered in different centers while others continue to live with their relatives. However essential services such as shelter, food, health services, and education for their children remain a challenge. These people found us on land and started claiming ownership of this land. Imagine when we went for a search at a land registry, we found out that they only have a title of 2 acres but everyone knows we have been on this land for over 30 years. We have people who were born on this land.” He added.

Witness Radio contacted Mr. Rogers Mbabazi, Hoima Resident District Commissioner who heads the district security committee, to understand how far the committee had gone with the implementation of the minister’s directive. He instead referred us to his Deputy Mr. Michael Kyakashari.

Mr. Michael Kyakashari, when asked about the status of the directive, told our reporter that he did not have an answer for him before he hung up.

“I don’t have an answer for you” He repeatedly said.

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