Efforts Renewed to Destroy Ugandan Reserve for Sugar Biofuel
No rainforest is protected for long. And in the case of Uganda's Mabira forest reserve [search] -- a vital ecosystem near the capital -- the President has pulled a massive bait and switch. There were strong indications a couple months ago that plans to clear a large part of this protected rainforest were to be scrapped. Yet now President Yoweri Museveni is trying again with renewed vigor to push through legislation that would strip the forest of its protected status to produce sugar for biofuels. The Mabira Forest Reserve, on the north shore of Lake Victoria, is home to 300 bird species as well as rare primates, and plays a vital role in the country's ecosystem, storing carbon and regulating rainfall. Given 50% of Uganda's forests have been lost since the 1970s, and a current rate of deforestation of some 2.2 percent, it is ludicrous to think more deforestation will lead to economic gain -- au contraire, at some point ecosystems will collapse leading to even greater poverty. Earlier in the year 8,627 Ecological Internet action network participants sent some 1,833,279 protest emails asking the Forestry and parliament to intervene. This was in support of strong protest in country including a boycott of the sugar company involved. Given that this rainforest give-away violates commitments made to the World Bank, and strong parliamentarian opposition, there are two likely avenues of protest in the near future. Sadly Ecological Internet was wrong on this one and the fight continues apace.
Comments
Please do not clear this forest. The Ugandan Reserve is an invaluable global resource and deserves to be protected in perpetuity.
Posted by: John Davis, VA | July 13, 2007 10:16 AM
Pleace don#t destroy the most worthful of your country and the world, the treasure of nature.
Posted by: franziska gerhardt | July 13, 2007 10:21 AM
Save the rainforest, save the enviornment, save nature, save humanity, save the world!
Posted by: Peggy Rush | July 13, 2007 10:39 AM
Please do not clear this forest. The Ugandan Reserve is an invaluable global resource and deserves to be protected in perpetuity.
Posted by: Roxanne Acosta | July 13, 2007 11:17 AM
The plan to cut forests to grow bio-fuel is a short sighted environmental disaster. Don't do it!
Posted by: Donna Bonetti | July 13, 2007 12:11 PM
It is almost of all times : short time profit and instabillity in the tropics. Conservatism and stablity (at the cost of the third world) in the colder part of the world.
Here we go again.
Posted by: Marc Sommer | July 13, 2007 12:37 PM
Donna Bonetti has the measure of it (comment July 13th 12:11pm). Does it go back to the Marshall Plan? But maybe our fear of global warming will finally end colonial theft. American consumer spending has dropped! Now we should pay back what we owe to save the Ugandan Reserve.
Posted by: Harold Curry | July 13, 2007 12:59 PM
I think that the south american and african rainforests need to be saved in order to prevent mass extinction of animals and to help keep the global climate in balance
Posted by: Bryan | July 13, 2007 1:09 PM
Monetary rewards for producing Sugar Biofuel, should NOT take precedence over saving the valuable Ugandan preserve, which took millions of yeqars to form.
It supports and aids the essential production of Oxygen and removal of Carbon Dioxide, as does the increasingly depleted Amazon Forest. What can be gained from these forests, the survival of wildlife habitats, production of yet undiscovered new medical resources, surely far outweigh the money obtained from Biofuels!
Posted by: Pat Saddler | July 13, 2007 3:06 PM
We all want that the Mabira Forest be saved from being used for sugar planting or any business activity. The trouble is many third world countries alike africa lack the financial requirements to move forward. Somehow those who want to save this earth ecologically should try to find out ways of assisting countries like Uganda meet their countryx's needs for development. No amount of telling them how they are destroying the earth's eco-sphere will convince them. They also want live like people in first world countries even for just a few years.
Posted by: Erlinda | July 13, 2007 4:06 PM
Please think to the future! Cutting down trees, in the long run is suicide. Protect the world's most valuable asset....our trees. They support life and give us oxygen, and shade. THINK with your head.
Posted by: William Wood | July 14, 2007 10:23 AM
The rush for short-term profit with no regard for the long-term disastrous results is insane. The world has already lost a dangerous amount of forests at a time when they are more crucial than ever to the planetary ecosystem. They absorb carbon dioxide and help create weather. When logged, they release carbon dioxide and can no longer absorb it, doubly exacerbating global warming.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 14, 2007 2:33 PM
Please use your brain. Global warming is caused by carbon dioxide the trees in the forests eat up the carbon dioxide. You take away the trees you may as well bend over backwards and kiss your ass good bye
Posted by: Kimberly Peterson | July 14, 2007 4:23 PM
We are doomed by our capacity to outstrip the resources the earth can provide willing.Our legacy and ultimate demise will be fueled by greed.The sad thing is the wasted opportunities.Because as a species we don't deserve this planet.
Posted by: alan | July 15, 2007 4:26 AM
Clearing forests is destroying life! Protect God´s nature!
Posted by: Elvira Burster | July 16, 2007 5:30 AM
This is the perfect example of how 'bio-fuel' will destroy our ecology around the globe.
Posted by: D. Bateman | July 16, 2007 11:26 AM
We need to protect the wildlife and places that we still have. Not clear them for paper, wood, and profits for large companies that do not need them. Protect these beautiful places.
Posted by: Alek Williams | July 17, 2007 9:43 PM
No amount of wringing of the hands will prevent get-rich opportunists, or poor people with little or nothing trying to survive, from cutting down forests. The planet as a whole needs these rainforests, and we rich nations should be prepared to stump up cash and lease them. We shouldn't expect some of the poorest nations to give up their sometimes only means of making money or growing food to sustain their families to 'save' us.
Posted by: Sheila | July 22, 2007 1:47 AM
Please, please, please cease the logging; the science is in place to support the fact that the trees are basically carbon sticks, and are essential in maintaining the temperature of the planet. The rich can only prosper for so long, and no inheritance is going to leave their children secure in a world that will suffer one catastrophe after another.
Posted by: h | July 23, 2007 4:28 PM
We HAVE run out of time. We need to protect every piece of nature, rainforest and every animal we have NOT YET DESTROYED. We should wake up to the consciousness of true human(e) beings!
Especially Africa is the proud owner of such beautiful nature, especially the rainforest with its so many species. Please have a heart for your own country AND DO NOT DESTROY IT!!!
Posted by: Christina Sott | August 12, 2007 6:16 PM