Re-establishing forest ecosystem in Uganda helps fight climate change

Kibale National Park in western Uganda is a relict forest of great importance for wildlife; boasting an outstanding 13 species of primates. In the 1960s and 1970s, large areas of the national park were deforested, and are now overrun with tall 'elephant grass', which prevent forest regrowth and which must be cut by hand before tree planting and then at least three times a year until the trees form a canopy to shade out the sunlight.

Since the 1990s, the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the FACE Foundation have been working in the park to restore the deforested area. Rangers from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority clear areas of grass and plant indigenous trees which act as pioneer species. The rangers tend the trees, keeping the grass around them cut back, until they are tall enough to receive sunlight and survive on their own. This forest is then able to regrow naturally as wildlife disperses the seeds of other plants and trees. Intermediate and then climax species of tree take root and within a few decades it is difficult to distinguish from the older areas of the forest.

Climate Care is funding the re-establishment of a rainforest with 30 or so native species of trees which, when mature, will be home to a number of endangered primates, including chimpanzees. Not only will the young trees account for large amounts of CO2 (1 hectare of rainforest equals 400 tonnes of CO2 saved per year), but, when mature, they will be home to a number of endangered primates. Planting and tending the trees also provides employment, currently for up to 400 people in the local area.

CO2 sequestration rates are calculated by SGS Forestry and the project has attained certification from the Forest Stewardship Council. Progress is monitored by the Face Foundation, which was established in 1990 by the Dutch electricity generating board, NV Sep, and which has been an independent non-profit organization since 2000. Face was set up to help abate the greenhouse effect by planting and protecting forest. In 2002, it created Business for Climate with Triodos Bank and Kegado BV, and in 2006, changed the name to ClimateNeutral Group, which sells CO2 credits from its forest projects to plant and maintain more forests.

Climate Care notes that while planting trees' is not in itself a solution to climate change, a significant proportion of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year comes from the destruction of forest through fires, logging and agriculture. Replanting deforested lands helps to redress this balance. As forests grow they absorb CO2 and, if protected, store it over the long term. Simply protecting a forested area is not good enough for a carbon offset, Climate Care says. The best approach is to plant a mixed forest on an area that has been deforested so that it can re-grow into a stable ecosystem.

Climate Care both promotes reduction of green house gases and helps to offset CO2 used by individuals and companies (known as the “carbon footprint”) by paying someone to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere on your behalf. The website allows you to calculate the offset needed for various activities including airplane flights.

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