SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Environment activists protest Bugoma forest giveaway
Published
4 years agoon
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/34291c6bdf650fb782edbdca8ac54bea_XL.jpg)
NEMA should be aware that Uganda has lost a forest cover of nearly 15% of its land surface area since 1990. Forests covered 24% of Uganda’s total land area in 1990 and by 2015; it had shrunk to 9%.
A group of environment conservation activists have protested clearance of Hoima Sugar Limited to use 21 square miles carved out of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve to establish a sugar factory alongside other developments.
The ownership of the land was contested by the Bunyoro Kingdom, Hoima sugar on one hand and the National Forestry Authority on the other hand. In the last five years, NFA has lost two cases as Judges ruled in favour of Hoima Sugar limited and Bunyoro Kingdom.
The clearance is contained in a certificate of approval for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report issued by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) that authorises Hoima Sugar limited to undertake the said development.
“We call upon NEMA to retract its impact assessment and allow the land revert to the natural forest. The country stands to benefit better and greater from the natural forest than a sugarcane plantation,” John Mary Odoy, the board chair of Climate Action Network Uganda said during a press briefing in Kampala on Tuesday.
NEMA should be aware that Uganda has lost a forest cover of nearly 15% of its land surface area since 1990. Forests covered 24% of Uganda’s total land area in 1990 and by 2015; it had shrunk to 9%.
This, according to Odoy, has had adverse effects on the environment and increased temperatures leading to food insecurity and outbreak of diseases
Bugoma which covered 41,144 hectares is the largest remaining block of natural tropical forest along the Albertine rift valley
Uganda risks losing 260 species of trees and 23 species of animals including over 500 chimpanzees and 225 birds that reside in the forest risk losing their homes.
Hussein Muyinda, executive director for Earth and Rights Initiative said they shall challenge NEMA’s power in giving away licenses, saying it contradicts with different articles of the constitution.
“For instance, sections 81 (3) (b) of the National Environment Act 2019 which empowers NEMA to issue licenses to entities contravenes with Article 39 and 245 (a) of the constitution,” Muyinda said.
He explained that they want these powers trimmed and others channelled to other organs of government like Parliament.
Deborah Namsamba, the programmes officer at Development Watch, a conservation agency based in Luuka district said they are disappointed that NEMA prioritised sugarcane growing and development over lives.
She said Uganda already has enough sugarcane in Busoga, some of which lacks market and is rotting away in plantations.
“Farmers in Busoga are stuck with their sugarcane and are selling it at giveaway prices of as low as sh60,000 per track while some of it is rotting from gardens due to lack of market,”
Original Post: New Vision
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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS
Statement: The Energy Sector Strategy 2024–2028 Must Mark the End of the EBRD’s Support to Fossil Fuels
Published
10 months agoon
September 27, 2023![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/statement.png)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.
From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.
The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.
In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.
The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to
- fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
- avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
- strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.
Source: iisd.org
Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Will more sovereign wealth funds mean less food sovereignty?
Published
1 year agoon
April 13, 2023![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/Government-Vedder-Highsmith-detail-1.jpg)
- 45% of Louis Dreyfus Company, with its massive land holdings in Latin America, growing sugarcane, citrus, rice and coffee;
- a majority stake in Unifrutti, with 15,000 ha of fruit farms in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Philippines, Spain, Italy and South Africa; and
- Al Dahra, a large agribusiness conglomerate controlling and cultivating 118,315 ha of farmland in Romania, Spain, Serbia, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia and the US.
Sovereign wealth funds invested in farmland/food/agriculture (2023)
|
|||
Country
|
Fund
|
Est.
|
AUM (US$bn)
|
China
|
CIC
|
2007
|
1351
|
Norway
|
NBIM
|
1997
|
1145
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADIA
|
1967
|
993
|
Kuwait
|
KIA
|
1953
|
769
|
Saudi Arabia
|
PIF
|
1971
|
620
|
China
|
NSSF
|
2000
|
474
|
Qatar
|
QIA
|
2005
|
450
|
UAE – Dubai
|
ICD
|
2006
|
300
|
Singapore
|
Temasek
|
1974
|
298
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
Mubadala
|
2002
|
284
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADQ
|
2018
|
157
|
Australia
|
Future Fund
|
2006
|
157
|
Iran
|
NDFI
|
2011
|
139
|
UAE
|
EIA
|
2007
|
91
|
USA – AK
|
Alaska PFC
|
1976
|
73
|
Australia – QLD
|
QIC
|
1991
|
67
|
USA – TX
|
UTIMCO
|
1876
|
64
|
USA – TX
|
Texas PSF
|
1854
|
56
|
Brunei
|
BIA
|
1983
|
55
|
France
|
Bpifrance
|
2008
|
50
|
UAE – Dubai
|
Dubai World
|
2005
|
42
|
Oman
|
OIA
|
2020
|
42
|
USA – NM
|
New Mexico SIC
|
1958
|
37
|
Malaysia
|
Khazanah
|
1993
|
31
|
Russia
|
RDIF
|
2011
|
28
|
Turkey
|
TVF
|
2017
|
22
|
Bahrain
|
Mumtalakat
|
2006
|
19
|
Ireland
|
ISIF
|
2014
|
16
|
Canada – SK
|
SK CIC
|
1947
|
16
|
Italy
|
CDP Equity
|
2011
|
13
|
China
|
CADF
|
2007
|
10
|
Indonesia
|
INA
|
2020
|
6
|
India
|
NIIF
|
2015
|
4
|
Spain
|
COFIDES
|
1988
|
4
|
Nigeria
|
NSIA
|
2011
|
3
|
Angola
|
FSDEA
|
2012
|
3
|
Egypt
|
TSFE
|
2018
|
2
|
Vietnam
|
SCIC
|
2006
|
2
|
Gabon
|
FGIS
|
2012
|
2
|
Morocco
|
Ithmar Capital
|
2011
|
2
|
Palestine
|
PIF
|
2003
|
1
|
Bolivia
|
FINPRO
|
2015
|
0,4
|
AUM (assets under management) figures from Global SWF, January 2023
|
|||
Engagement in food/farmland/agriculture assessed by GRAIN
|
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Farmland values hit record highs, pricing out farmers
Published
2 years agoon
November 21, 2022![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/original_Screen_Shot_2022-11-14_at_9.27.35_AM.png)
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NEMA suspend operations to evict the World Bank project-affected community and other residents accused of being located in wetlands.
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Sexual violence as a tool to grab land: a local woman accuses industrial agriculture investor Agilis Partners Limited of sexual violence.
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Thirty-six (36) groups from all over the world have written to industrial agriculture investors, Agilis Partners Limited to stop human rights violations/abuses against thousands of indigenous/local communities, settle grievances, and return the grabbed land.
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CSOs, oil host communities, and concerned citizens have petitioned the President of Uganda to stop oil drilling in the Murchison Falls National Park.
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Enemies of the State: Resistance to the EACOP becomes a deadly task
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Innovative Finance from Canada projects positive impact on local communities.
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Over 5000 Indigenous Communities evicted in Kiryandongo District
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Petition To Land Inquiry Commission Over Human Rights In Kiryandongo District
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Invisible victims of Uganda Land Grabs
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