Uganda likely to lose all forest cover in 50 yrs

By Frank Nyakairu

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Uganda will lose its entire forest cover in the next 50 years if the government does not embark on immediate efforts to halt rapid deforestation, a forestry expert warned on Thursday.

Forests and tree planting can help mitigate the effects of global warming by increasing carbon storage and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. Tropical deforestation accounts for a fifth of emissions from human activities.

"We have been observing using satellite imagery that over the last 15 years we have lost more that 1.5 million hectares of forest cover," Xavier Mugumya, Uganda's forest management specialist at the National Forest Authority, told Reuters.

"Uganda is likely to have very low if not completely no forest cover within 50 years if nothing is done to reverse this trend," he said in an interview.

The east Africa nation's forest cover has fallen to 3.5 million hectares in 2005, Mugumya said. Trees soak up carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they are burnt or rot.

The G8 agreed on Wednesday to try to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent. A new U.N. climate agreement is due to be signed in Copenhagen in five months.

Rich countries agree they have to lead a climate fight after enjoying two centuries of industrialisation and pollution, but they disagree with developing nations on how much of the burden they should carry under a new treaty.

"If nothing is done to stop the drivers of deforestation then the sustenance the forests contribute to life and the country's biodiversity will be lost completely," said Mugumya, who is also Uganda's international climate change negotiator.