Members of Parliament have accused the National Forestry Authority (NFA) of championing activities which have led to deforestation, contrary to their mandate of promoting tree planting.
They made the accusations during a debate of the report of the Committee on Climate Change on a motion for a resolution of Parliament urging the government to address climate change.
The report which was presented by the vice chairperson of the committee, Jacinta Atuto, recommended re-opening of forest boundaries and cancellation of titles issued on gazetted forest land.
"Government should come up with incentives to encourage the public to plant trees," read the report in part.
Muwanga Kivumbi, MP Butambala county, however, said that while people want to engage in tree planting, NFA on the other hand gives permits to people to cut down trees under the pretext of investments.
"We should first concentrate on protecting the existing forests. NFA should be audited for value for money on forests that have been cut down," Muwanga Kivumbi said.
Pakwach district Woman MP, Jane Avur, cautioned against the eviction of people from forest reserves which are not gazetted and marked, saying that some of the people have lived in those areas for over 40 years.
"There are unknown forest reserves where people have lived for a long time. Government must follow processes of relocating such people as it is in the law," said Avur.
The committee report further recommended stringent sanctions on people who acquire land in wetlands and ensure that degraded wetlands are reclaimed.
The minister of state for Water and Environment, Beatrice Anywar, said that the ministry will soon table regulations to operationalise the Climate Change Act, 2022 and this she said, will go a long way in restoration of degraded environment.
"A committee is already in place and I can say that it has so far done 30 percent of its work. The work was however curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic where the budget was cut and this slowed the process," Anywar said.