On July 21st, 2020 the Court of Appeal of Uganda sitting at Kampala delivered a landmark decision in which it restored part of Buhungiro Central Forest Reserve in Kyegegwa district located in Western Uganda. The part of the forest which comprises over 440 acres of land was in 2018 declared by the High Court sitting at Fort Portal to be private land.

In 2013, 39 encroachers filed a suit against the National Forestry Authority (NFA), the Agency responsible for the management of forests in Uganda claiming to be lawful customary owners of the suit land. The plaintiffs claimed to have inherited the land from their grandparents way back in the 1940s. This followed (NFA’s forceful eviction of the plaintiffs from the land and their prosecution. The High Court in 2018 delivered a decision in favor of the plaintiffs finding that the land was not part of the forest reserve and ordered NFA to pay damages to the plaintiffs. NFA appealed.

In the leading judgment of Hon. Mr. Justice Kenneth Kakuru, JA, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal. The court held that the plaintiffs/respondents had failed to prove that they were customary owners of the land and further declared that the land was part of the Buhungiro Central Forest Reserve.

The decision comes after over 400 out of 506 central forest reserves in Uganda are under heavy encroachment. There is illegal timber harvest, crop cultivation, and charcoal burning in most central forest reserves in the country which has sent most wildlife species and biodiversity generally into extinction. Uganda needs more decisions of this nature in order to preserve biodiversity and keep trees – homes to wild animals standing.