RCE Greater Eastern Uganda - 2022

Promoting Community engagement in tree planting, beekeeping, and fuel efficient stove use for climate change impact mitigation and adaptation around West Bugwe Forest, Busia Uganda
CSV
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Promoting Community engagement in tree planting, beekeeping, and fuel efficient stove use for climate change impact mitigation and adaptation around West Bugwe Forest, Busia Uganda
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Greater Eastern Uganda
Contributing organization(s) : 
Busitema University
Busia District Local Govornnment
National Forest Authority
Local community adjacent to West Bugwe Forest
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Andama Edward
Organizational Affiliation: 
Busitema University
E-mail: 
andamaedward@gmail.com
Format of project: 
manuscript
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Sunday, October 16, 2022
Web link: 
N/A
Additional resources: 
N/A
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
Uganda National Climate Change Policy (NCCP)
At what level is the policy operating?: 
National
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Africa and Middle East
Country: 
Uganda
Location(s): 
Eastern Uganda Busia District
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Busitema University, Faculty of Science and Education, Nagongera campus, P.O. Box 236, Tororo Uganda
Ecosystem(s):
Agricultural, Forest
Target Audience:
Community, Higher, Primary, Youth (Informal)
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
The local community surrounding West Bugwe Central Forest Reserve in Busia district subsists on agricultural production with 69% of the population dependent on crop agriculture for their livelihood, while 27% depends on wage employment. The community also engages in charcoal burning for income generation, as well as mining and quarrying activities. The population density is high with 440 people/km2 and has been growing at a rate of 2.7% per annum. Most of the population is young, with 62% less than 20 years of age.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
The Forest Act No. 33 and 34 allows for collecting of either wood or bambo from the forest reserves without compromising the sustainability of the forest. The households (94%) in the community depend on fuel wood for cooking because it is cheap, accessible and consumed using simple technology with inexpensive equipment compared to electricity form national grid. They additionally the community collect fire wood and destructively distill the fuel wood to produce charcoal for both domestic and commercial purposes. “Fuel extraction is closely linked to the high levels of poverty among the communities adjacent to West Bugwe Forest Reserve. People lack alternative livelihood initiatives that can support their needs and their families. The key drivers that have been highlighted by the recent studies indicate poverty (86%), population growth (56%), and associated harvesting of woody products (86%) for subsistence and income generation around the forest reserve which results in rapid deforestation and degradation of the forest reserve. The adjacent community look at the reserve as the only source of livelihood and thus engage in activities like tree cutting for charcoal and firewood.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
July, 2022 to June, 2023
Rationale: 
In Uganda the maojority of households (over 90%) depend on use of solid wood fuel e.g. wood or charcoal for cooking food which this creates social and environmental hazards. The open fire places have an extremely inefficient combustion and produce a lot of smoke, this results in significant health, time and work burden for women and youth who are typically in charge of the fire wood collection and cooking. Further, the inefficient use of solid fuels may also put an extra drain on forests and climate. One way to improve these issues and reduce the burdens on women is recourse to energy efficient improved cooking stoves. In additional promoting tree planting at household burden is to promote establishment of woodlots for energy which would reduce forest degradation pressure. In addition engaging the community in bee keeping within the forest habits and the woodlots can generate additional income and provide source of food for the households.
Objectives: 
(i) promote the tree planting as source of wood fuel for house hold use and for income generation
(ii) promote use of energy saving/efficient stoves made using local materials by the community
(iii) promote beekeeping and honey production as alternative source of livelihood and food for adjacent communities
Activities and/or practices employed: 
(i) Training communities in tree nursery management and commercialization of seedling production for sale.
(ii) Training communities in tree plantation management and sustainable utilisation.
(iii) Training communities in building energy efficient cooking stoves using locally available raw materials
(iv) Equiping the communities with bee hive construction skills using locally available materials, beekeeping practices and honey packaging.
(v) Community sensitization through environmental education and good household sanitation/hyegine managment practices
Size of academic audience: 
450
Results: 
The preliminary results indicate: The community (women) struggle to find enough firewood for both domestic use and for sale. They appreciated the challenge of the smoke produced when cooking using the traditional open three stone stove and the need to adopt improved energy efficient stoves. Limited number of households had adopted ocal version of the mud stove (38%) in order to ease the burden of firewood collection. Few had woodlots dedicated for woodfuels however, the main constraint was lack of large a land area for planting trees as land holdings were small. Very few engaged in bee keeeping due to lack of land and access to forest facilaties and insecurity. Many indicated that the commernial bee hives were very expsienve for them to afford. There is high potenatil for adotion of the energy effiecnt stove and promotion of woodlots as source of wood enegry. The youth in schools were given environmental education, tree planting to overcome the impact of climate change, and sustainable use of forest resources and to prepare them as future conservation leaders.
Lessons learned: 
Communities adjacent to Bugwe forest reserve are willing to adopt new skills for energy conservation and promoting tree planting as woodlots. However a combination of interventions is recommended for effectively reducing the high wood fuel demand in around the forest communities and beyond. It is important to promote sustainable wood fuel supply. Opportunities include establishing multipurpose tree-planting programmes and promoting wood fuel alternatives (e.g. agricultural residues) which would have the added benefit of contributing to the mitigation of climate change impact mitigation.
Key messages: 
I am Andama Edward, coordinating RCE Greater Eastern Uganda. We are undertaking a project of promoting tree planting, beekeeping, and fuel efficient stove to contribute to climate change impact mitigation and adaptation around West Bugwe Forest, Busia Uganda. The project create jobs and improves household income while promoting biodiversity conservation.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
The project is related to other RCE Greater Eastern Uganda project "Stakeholder Engagement for Promoting Community Resilience to Climate Change"
Funding: 
Support is mainly from Busitema University which is a public unstitution

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon West Bugwe Central FR location.jpg (92.38 KB) Location of the West Bugwe Central Forest Reserves (Sector) (West Bugwe) and other forest reserves in the area. Andama Edward
References and reference materials: 
File Reference material.docx
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Direct
SDG 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 
Indirect
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Indirect
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Indirect
SDG 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 
Indirect
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Direct
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Direct
SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries 
Indirect
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Indirect
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Indirect
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Direct
SDG 14 - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development 
Indirect
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 
Direct
SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 
Direct
SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development 
Direct
Theme
Disaster Risk Reduction 
Direct
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Agriculture 
Direct
Arts 
Indirect
Curriculum Development 
Indirect
Ecotourism 
Direct
Forests/Trees 
Direct
Plants & Animals 
Direct
Waste 
Indirect
ESD for 2030-Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
state: 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
state: 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 3 - Developing capacities of educators and trainers 
state: 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 4 - Mobilizing youth 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
state: 
Direct
Update: 
No
I acknowledge the above: 
Yes