Forests fall, animals die, desert looms: Uganda’s burning problem – in pictures

Charcoal is an integral part of everyday life in Uganda, where most people rely on some form of wood fuel to cook or boil water. For many, the sale of trees also provides a valuable income. Yet this levelling of the landscape, which causes loss of habitat for wildlife and leads to climate change, is unsustainable

All photographs by Jennifer Huxta

Uganda’s charcoal trade is causing rapid destruction of the country’s forests. Each year, about 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) are cleared for the production of charcoal or timber, according to the National Forestry Authority. Demand for charcoal has increased dramatically over recent years, driven by Uganda’s population growth and urbanisation. Campaigners warn the trade is now unsustainable, and local leaders are trying to crack down on the cutting of trees for charcoal.

Wood collected for charcoal burning in Koch Lii in Nwoya district, northern Uganda. In the worst years of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, residents fled northern Uganda and the forests became impenetrable. Now Nwoya loses 20-40 hectares each month, according to Okello Alfred Okot, a local government representative. ‘The rate at which these people are cutting trees is terrible,’ he says. The authorities of Nwoya, Amuru and Gulu districts have all banned the trade. Anyone caught violating the ban is fined 1.5m Ugandan shillings per truckload (£300)

Swaliki Kakande, 39, a charcoal burner, has been living in this camp in Koch Lii for two years. He works on 32 hectares of land, burning charcoal, cutting trees and hauling logs. It’s extremely taxing work, he says. ‘I’m here because of poverty. Because there are no jobs. We have pain all over [our bodies] and we feel sick. We feel backaches, pains in our chest, and also because we inhale a lot of smoke we feel palpitations, like our hearts beating very fast.’ Kakande is paid a commission on each bag of charcoal he makes, of 15,000 Ugandan shillings.

Like many other charcoal burners in Koch Lii, Kakande moved to the area from central Uganda. Burners are often in conflict with locals, who view outsiders with suspicion. Last May, a group of local people attacked a charcoal burners’ camp in neighbouring Amuru district. One person was killed and 39 injured. According to a police spokesman, Patrick Jimmy Okema, the attackers claimed the charcoal burners were destroying trees and their motive was to control deforestation. However, land conflict is common in Uganda, which is still recovering after decades of conflict

Wood in the process of carbonisation under a mound of earth and grass, in Amuru district. In Nwoya, local government officials are developing an incentive plan to encourage landowners to keep their trees, funded by the penalty fines. Landowners who don’t sell their trees for charcoal burning are to be paid 1m Ugandan shillings each year

A charcoal burner distributes earth on the charcoal mound. Okello believes the incentive scheme will be effective. ‘People’s minds are gonna change because they’ll say, “If I keep this tree for five years, I’m going to get 5 million from the district.”’ Last year, to mark the International Day of Forests, Nwoya district gave 1,000 pine seedlings to 2,000 farmers for each to plant roughly two acres of new trees