In January 2013, FAO, in collaboration with the Forest Sector Support Department (FSSD) of the Government of Uganda, carried out a training and policy dialogue to improve understanding of the principles, key issues and processes to strengthen forest tenure systems in Uganda. This was following the endorsement of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenures (VGGT) of Land, Fisheries and Forests by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in May 2012. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) embarked on global, regional and national level efforts to support their implementation.
The Forest Tenure project, “Enhancing Forest Tenure and Governance in Uganda in selected districts” is a follow-up to the outcomes of the training and policy dialogue and is aimed at strengthening governance of tenure in the forest sector. This project is implemented by Uganda Forestry Working Group (UFWG) in partnership with Forest Sector Support Department (FSSD), and FAO which is the funding institution. The project aims to strengthen Forest Tenure systems for private and community forests in selected districts of Uganda.
Some of the Key issues affecting forest tenure security in Uganda include; changes in legal, policy and institutional arrangements, cross border nature of the forest resources, gender disparities, decentralized governance system, etc. EA focuses on developing practical strategies to address these, of which facilitation of multi-stakeholder engagements on these is a practical action.