FAO, EU launch € 15 m project for more sustainable Ugandan forestry sector

10 / 04 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a 15 million euro project funded by the European Union (EU) to help Uganda’s forestry sector contribute more sustainably to the economy and the environment.

The five-year Sustainable Wood-Based Value Chains in Uganda initiative, to be implemented by FAO, aims to ensure the sustainable supply of legal wood raw material from planted forests, enhance the processing capacity and market demand for wood products and improve the availability of and access to affordable finance.

The country’s forests are increasingly at risk from encroachment, deforestation, illegal timber logging and forest degradation. Almost one quarter of Uganda’s land was forest in 1990 but by 2017 that had nearly halved to only 13 percent.

“The European Union takes pride in its ongoing commitment to significantly invest in advancing Uganda’s commercial forestry industry. By leveraging the collaborative efforts of the Team Europe Forestry Partnership and providing supplementary funding for the processing and marketing of wood products, the EU is dedicated to fostering the growth of a robust and sustainable sector that thrives both environmentally and commercially,” said EU Ambassador to Uganda, Jan Sadek.

The project seeks to increase the quality and value of planted forests by promoting better practices and more efficient processing facilities, which, in turn, will add more value to raw wood material. This is essential to incentivize the maintenance and expansion of forest assets while enhancing livelihoods.

“This initiative is all about unleashing the potential for Uganda’s forest resources to contribute more sustainably to inclusive economic growth, global efforts to address the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity and to promote women’s economic empowerment,” said FAO Representative in Uganda Antonio Querido. “We look forward to working with the EU, the Government of Uganda and our other partners to move this important project forward,” he added.