NGO WORK
NFA deployment fails to halt logging, charcoal burning in Kyenjojo
Some of the timber from Oruha Central Forest Reserve awaiting transportation along the Kyenjojo-Fort Portal highway. Photo by Wilson Asiimwe
Local authorities claim that UPDF soldiers and the NFA officials connive with the illegal timber dealers to destroy the forests
Charcoal burning and illegal logging persist in Kyenjojo central forest reserves despite the deployment of Police and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) officers attached to the National Forestry Authority (NFA).
The forests of Itwara, Muzizi, Oruha, and Matiri are the most affected with a number of truckloads leaving the forests each day.
Residents around the forest say that often assorted timber is transported out of the forest on trucks without abandon.
Julius Alinitwe a resident of Matiri says that several sections of Matiri Forest have been cut down by timber dealers and a few parts of the forest have been left.
“We have been seeing a number of trucks loaded with timber and charcoal leaving the forests under the watch of the law enforcement officers and nothing has been done,” Alinitwe says.
Richard Businge the LC3 chairman for Bugaki sub-county which is near Itwara Central Forest Reserve says that as local leaders their efforts to fight the timber dealers have been hindered by the enforcement officers.
“Itwara Forest has been depleted and very soon the forest will be no more all the trees have been cut down by the illegal timber dealers,” Businge says.
Gilbert Kato a charcoal dealer in Matiri trading center says that it is difficult for locals to completely give up on charcoal burning despite its negative effects on the environment mainly because it yields quick money to enable them to support their families instead of struggling for loans.
Army, NFA officials blamed
John Baptist Kansiime the LC3 chairman for Kanyegaramire sub-county says that the UPDF soldiers and the NFA officials connive with the illegal timber dealers to destroy the forests.
“We have on several occasions intercepted lorries ferrying timbers and charcoal from the forests and when we inform the army and the NFA officials they release the trucks and because of that we have also lost morale and we no longer report,” Kansiime says.
Jackson Kamara a resident of Bugaki says that many of their colleagues have been tortured by the soldiers when they give out information about the destruction of the forest.
Apollo Bwebale the resident district commissioner for Kyenjojo says that leaders should come out and report all such cases so that they can be reported.
“I have had several allegations and am going to conduct investigations in some cases where it has been alleged that senior army officials are involved in illegal logging in Kyenjojo,” Bwebale says.
Bwebale says that several forests have been destroyed and encroached on and there was a need for the NFA to open up boundaries because people have encroached on the forest land.
Col Allan Kyangungu the UPDF commandant of vital assets and installations unit says that UPDF works with the police and the NFA enforcement officers to protect the forests.
“We work under very unfortunate circumstances we enter the forests knowing that it’s a matter of death and life some of our officers have been killed the situation is so tempting however if there is any soldier who does not act professionally report him and we shall deal with him,” Kyangungu says.
He adds that there are clear procedures involving the UPDF soldiers in NFA patrols.
“The NFA officials must write to the commandant of the vital assess and installation unit of the army and get guidance then the order must come from the commander land forces to the division commanders and anyone who goes contrary to that will get problems.”
Tom Rukundo the director of natural forests at NFA anticipates that any illegal practice that happens is a result of limited staff.
He also blames the practices on increasing numbers of residents within the forest areas who failed to adopt alternative means of income generation.
“We are going to move to the forests in Kyenjojo district to assess the level of depletion and we are going to open up boundaries because many of our forests have been encroached on,” Rukundo says.
According to a 2018 report by the Global Environment Facility-GEF up to 6 million tons of wood are annually transformed into 1.8 million tons of charcoal. This means increased greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion and flooding in formerly forested areas.
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NGO WORK
The Great “Green” Heist: When Artificial Intelligence and Arms Dealers Seize the Minerals of the South
By Franck Zongwe Lukama, Congolese journalist and researcher, leads the independent media KilaloPress in DRC.
We were sold a simple equation: to save the planet, we must dig. Dig faster, deeper, extracting from the earth the cobalt, lithium, or copper needed for solar panels and electric vehicles. Yet, this climate rescue rhetoric conceals a staggering statistical deception. Today, 70% of global demand for critical minerals does absolutely nothing to support the energy transition. These resources end up in aerospace, communication technologies, and, above all, weaponry. Sectors that, ironically, exacerbate the global ecological crisis. The green revolution has become the perfect smokescreen, the moral veneer for a very different kind of war.
Far from the promises of sustainable development touted by the World Bank, the current scramble is driven by a strict logic of geopolitical power. A damning report from the California-based Oakland Institute exposes this global scheme. The report reveals an unprecedented and formidable convergence of interests between the American military-industrial complex and the giants of Silicon Valley. With the Pentagon openly pivoting toward a combat strategy focused on artificial intelligence (AI), securing supply chains is no longer a matter of ecology, but a question of survival in the face of Chinese influence. The United States is not seeking to reduce carbon emissions; it is seeking to guarantee its technological and military supremacy.
The real winners of this frantic race wear suits far removed from environmental activism. Trillions of dollars are flowing into new alliances that intertwine AI-driven mining companies, like KoBold Metals—backed by billionaires such as Bill Gates—and companies specializing in cutting-edge defense technologies, like Palantir and Anduril, not to mention the networks of influence close to the Trump family. For these players, the discourse of climate emergency acts as a powerful public relations tool. It justifies massive and accelerated extraction that would otherwise provoke international outrage.
Local communities and Indigenous populations find themselves on the frontlines, forced to resist an extraction machine that has the audacity to justify their suffering by claiming it is necessary to save the world.
And the price of this hypocrisy is being paid in full throughout the Global South. In the Rubaya hills, in the Kolwezi copper belt, as in the Indigenous territories of Latin America and Asia, the promise of “prosperity” translates into a terrifyingly familiar tragedy. Land grabbing, forced displacement, devastating groundwater pollution: the plundering of ecosystems and human lives is accelerating. Local communities and Indigenous populations find themselves on the frontlines, forced to resist an extraction machine that has the audacity to justify their suffering by claiming it is necessary to save the world. Today, opposing the destruction of one’s village by a multinational mining company risks being accused of hindering the fight against climate change. The rhetorical trap is devastatingly effective.
The long-term consequences of this diversion are alarming. The exponential surge in demand generated by future AI data centers, mass surveillance, and global rearmament will mathematically deplete available reserves. Every ton of copper, nickel, or cobalt consumed by combat drones or algorithmic data processing servers is a ton diverted from the production of renewable energy infrastructure. We are not equipping the energy transition; we are cannibalizing it to militarize our future.
We are not equipping the energy transition; we are cannibalizing it to militarize our future.
If no strict regulations are put in place to curb this rampant mining frenzy, hundreds of new mines will spring up in the coming years, causing irreversible damage on an unprecedented scale. The question facing citizens today, from Kinshasa to Washington, is no longer whether we will have enough minerals to save our atmosphere. It is why we are willing to sacrifice millions of lives and destroy our lands to fuel next-generation algorithms and weapons. In ten years, when the Global South is nothing more than a vast crater serving a militarized hyper-technology, it will be too late to realize that the planet was never the priority.
Photos: Artisanal Coltan – manganese – cobalt mining in Mudere mine under control of Nyatura militia, town of Rubaya, North Kivu region (Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa). Erberto Zani – stock.adobe.com
Source: oaklandinstitute.org/
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No Heritage Without its People: Why Ngorongoro Cannot be a World Heritage Site and an Eviction Zone
The Tanzanian government, under the guise of “conservation,” restricts Maasai livelihoods and denies access to essential services forcing Indigenous residents away from their ancestral lands and turning their heritage into a playground for safari tourists.
As the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee begins July 19, UNESCO continues to legitimize the continued forced displacement of the Maasai from Ngorongoro. If UNESCO cannot ensure that the World Heritage designation protects the rights of its Indigenous custodians, then the Committee must remove the Ngorongoro Conservation Area from the World Heritage List.
Increased international pressure is imperative to hold UNESCO accountable and protect the lives and rights of the Maasai!
Read our Open Letter to the World Heritage Committee.
Source: oaklandinstitute.org
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