Topic: east africa

Coming Soon: Global Forest Watch 2.0

James Anderson — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:03:32 -0500

Welcome to the home of Global Forest Watch 2.0, a powerful near real-time forest monitoring system that unites satellite technology, data sharing, and human networks around the world to fight deforestation.

GFW 2.0 is currently under development, and will launch in late 2013.

Read more below, and email gfw2@wri.org to participate in the pilot testing period or be notified when GFW 2.0 launches. Please note that as we prepare for the launch, the original Global Forest Watch website has been redirected to this page.

Watch a Short Preview of Global Forest Watch 2.0 at the UN Forum on Forests 10, in Istanbul.

Watch the full version here

Speakers:

Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of Forestry, Indonesia
Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility
Tim Christophersen, Senior Program Officer, Forests and Climate Change, UNEP
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forests Initiative, World Resources Institute

Photo by David Gilbert

WHY FORESTS, WHY NOW?

Forests provide food jobs, raw materials, climate benefits and more. But without clear, up-to-date information, governments, companies and communities lack the tools to monitor and manage these resources.

We can track a company’s financial information daily, but information about forests is often years out of date.

Deforestation continues today in part because by the time satellite images are available, analyzed, and shared, the forest clearing is long done. The illegal loggers have moved on; cattle are already grazing amidst stumps; the oil palm plantation has been established. We simply find out too late.

New technologies can overcome these challenges

Fortunately, a convergence of technologies and human networks offers the ability to address these challenges for the first time:

Advances in satellite and remote sensing technology, including the launch of NASA’s Landsat 8 in early 2013, and new private systems, enable higher spatial resolution analysis and much more rapid updates of information. This has enabled the development of near-real-time forest cover change detection.
Brazilian partner IMAZON, is making its Amazon Alert System available through GFW 2.0, and also the DETER system which is innovating in detection of forest degradation. Brazil has seen a remarkable drop in deforestation in the Amazon of almost 80 percent partly due to improved linked to more effective use of satellite imagery.
Cloud computing and open source software can now be used to rapidly process and interpret large volumes of satellite data at low cost by utilizing clusters of servers scattered around the world. Google Earth Engine’s team is partnered with Global Forest Watch 2.0 to optimize easy access to cloud computing-based forest cover information.
High speed internet connectivity enables sending data and forest maps processed in North America, Europe, or Singapore to laptops and mobile phones in Jakarta, Kinshasa, Lima, Vladivostok, and other corners of the globe.
Smartphones are more common than ever and can be used by anyone in the field to download maps and satellite images, as well as upload GPS coordinates and photographs from the ground.
Crowdsourcing using simple web interfaces can empower thousands if not millions of people to gather and share information, participate in forest monitoring, and hold decision-makers accountable. • Social media outlets are creating a flat, networked world in which information travels fast, communities self-organize, and people get mobilized.

ABOUT GLOBAL FOREST WATCH 2.0

These enhanced technologies and social movements are the foundation for Global Forest Watch 2.0. GFW 2.0 will unite a near-real-time deforestation alert system, complementary satellite imagery and monitoring systems, WRI’s data-rich collection of maps, mobile technology, and a networked world to create never-before-possible transparency for faraway forests.

The platform is currently under development, and will be launched in late 2013.

This powerful new platform will enable responsible companies, NGOs, the media, and progressive government leaders to hold those responsible accountable for forest management.

GFW 2.0 can be useful to multiple groups of users involved with the sustainable management of forests:

Buyers of sustainable commodities. GFW 2.0 will enable buyers of sustainably sourced commodities―such as certified timber, palm oil, soya, and beef―to confirm adherence to or violations of supplier commitments to “no deforestation,” “no clearing of high conservation value forest,” and related criteria.
Suppliers of sustainable commodities. GFW 2.0 will help suppliers of sustainable commodities prove to buyers, investors, governments, and NGOs that their commodities are adhering to best forest management practices, national laws, criteria of the relevant commodity roundtables, or investor lending conditions.
Governments. GFW 2.0 is designed to help progressive elements in governments better enforce sustainable forest management and forest protection laws. GFW 2.0 is also designed to be a trusted, independent, and user-friendly way to help investors in REDD+ and other forest conservation projects monitor performance and hold countries accountable to their commitments on greenhouse gas emission reductions and forest conservation.
Conservation and community organizations. GFW 2.0 will enable NGOs dedicated to forest conservation, indigenous rights, and forest communities to identify deforestation hotspots as they arise and quickly mobilize action to curtail further clearing.
The media. GFW 2.0 will enable local, national, and international media to ring the alarm bell on deforestation hotspots around the globe at a pace never-before-possible, and thereby put pressure on governments, companies, and others to curtail forest conversion and illegal logging in time

Applying new technology

GFW 2.0 combines satellites, new algorithms, cloud computing, mobile phone technologies, and WRI databases to connect images, maps, photos, and data with forest clearing alerts ultimately within two weeks of significant deforestation occurring.

Because GFW 2.0 will be powered by Google Earth Engine and Earth Builder, it will bring to target users a seamless experience of the best technology offered by WRI, Google, and their partners, as Bloomberg does for the world’s vast, complex array of financial information.

Mobilizing human networks

GFW 2.0 will mobilize networks of people to ensure sustainable management of forests and greater forest conservation. Global Forest Watch “anchor” NGOs in each priority country or region, will actively use and contribute content in an open-source, network model.

These groups will include ScanEx and its non-profit affiliate Transparent World in Russia, Imazon in Brazil and their Amazon-wide network of partners across the seven neighboring countries, the Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) which covers the Central Africa region. More partners in Canada, China, Europe, and the United States are joining every day.

Watch a Sneak Peek of GFW 2.0 presented at Rio+20

Video streaming by Ustream

Speakers:

Carlos Souza Jr., Senior Researcher, IMAZON
Charles Barber, Forest Division Chief, Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, U.S. Department of State
Rebecca Moore, Google
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forest Initiative, World Resources Institute

Watch UNEP’s press conference featuring GFW 2.0 at COP18 in Doha

Speakers:

Mr. Heru Prasetyo, Deputy I, Presidential Delivery Unit on Development Monitoring and Oversight, Government of Indonesia
Tim Christophersen, Senior Programme Officer, Forests and Climate Change, UNEP
Jane Feehan, Natural Resources Specialist, European Investment Bank
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forest Initiative, World Resources Institute

Watch a Sneak Peek of Global Forest Watch 2.0 at the U.S. Pavilion, COP18 in Doha

Video streaming by Ustream

Speakers:

Nigel Sizer, Director, Forests Initiative, World Resources Institute
Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi, Head of REDD+ Task Force Working Group on Moratorium Monitoring, Presidential Work Unit on Monitoring and Development Oversight (UKP4), Government of Indonesia
Per Fredrik Ilsaas Pharo, Director, International Climate and Forest Initiative, Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Government of Norway
Tim Christophersen, Senior Program Officer, Forests and Climate Change, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Read more about WRI’s forest work here.

Measurement and Performance Tracking in Developing Countries

Samah Elsayed — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:31:09 -0400

Developing countries face the challenge of meeting development goals while at the same time reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to address climate change. For these efforts to succeed, effective systems are needed to manage greenhouse gases and related emissions reduction activities.

To that end, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is working through the Measurement and Performance Tracking (MAPT) project to build national capacities in developing countries to measure GHG emissions and track performance toward low-carbon development goals. Lessons learned are also being shared with international audiences in order to replicate successes and inform the design of relevant rules within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

WRI is partnering with a broad range of relevant stakeholders within the six MAPT countries, including government agencies, business, and civil society organizations. WRI’s engagement within each country is prioritized according to national capacity needs, which have been identified through scoping assessments conducted with in-country partners.

MAPT is a four-year project funded primarily by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and being carried out in partnership with key stakeholders in Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, South Africa, and Thailand.

For more information on the MAPT project contact the project manager, Kelly Levin at KLevin@wri.org.

To learn more about the MAPT project visit:
Tools and Outputs
Countries

You can also read more about the individual components that make up the work:
Institutions
National GHG Emissions Inventories
Mitigation Accounting
Civil Society Policy Implementation
Industry
Forestry and Land Use
International

Q&A: Avoiding the Resource Curse in Uganda

Peter Veit — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:48:36 -0400

The following Q&A and photo essay originally appeared on allAfrica.com, and are reposted with permission.

Uganda stands to be the latest African country to benefit from newly discovered resources of oil. If used successfully, the nation’s petroleum reserves could spur development and improve the lives of millions of Ugandans. But if used improperly – with lack of transparency and insufficient regard for the environment – Uganda could become stricken by the “resource curse,” or a negative overall impact despite great potential to improve a nation’s wellbeing.

WRI is working with Ugandan non-governmental organizations to help assure that Uganda’s petroleum industry is transparent, benefits all Ugandans and is environmentally careful. Peter Veit, a senior fellow at WRI, and associate Florence Landsberg, discussed the impact of the discovery of oil in Uganda with allAfrica’s Cindy Shiner.

Lake Albert

Kyohero fishing village on the shores of Lake Albert, Uganda. The discovery of oil around the Lake Albert region has raised hopes of boosting development in the nation. Photo: Greenwatch

Development Challenges

Women coming from the market at Runga fish landing site in the Lake Albert region. Although development has improved with the construction of new roads, population growth and greater trade have depleted fish stocks that local communities rely on for their livelihoods. There are concerns that local development will not be sustainable. Photo: Robert Byaruhanga

Kisoro Market

Biweekly Market in Kisoro, south of Lake Albert on the border with Rwanda. This is within the Albertine Rift, where oil is being explored in Uganda. Photo Richard Duncombe

Community Engagement

Local non-governmental organizations have been active in undertaking community engagement for villages affected by oil production on Lake Albert. Photo: Robert Byaruhanga

Awareness of Rights

They are being made aware of their rights and how the discovery of oil might affect their communities. The goal is to avoid the ‘resource curse’ that has plagued some nations that have vast wealth underfoot, but have failed to develop. Photo: Robert Byaruhanga

Community Meeting at Bombo Parish

Here, villagers put on a drama show on the impact of oil exploration. This was held at Bombo parish, Kigorobya subcounty, Hoima District in the Lake Albert region. Photo: Robert Byaruhanga

Managing the Flow of Oil

Open drill waste management pit managed by Tullow Oil in Uganda’s Hoima District. With the assistance of the World Resources Institute (WRI), Ugandan NGOs are working to help ensure that Uganda’s petroleum industry is transparent, benefits all Ugandans and is environmentally careful. Photo: Greenwatch

National Parks

Government officials and others on tour of Kaiso Tonya Oil Exploration sites on Lake Albert. There are fissures within the Ugandan government over how to deal with oil exploration and extraction in the country’s national parks. Photo: Robert Byaruhanga

Total, S.A. Petrol Station, Kampala

Total owns two major oil concessions in the Lake Albert region of Uganda. Three promised petroleum bills are being presented to parliament this year about management of Uganda’s oil revenues. WRI says they should give a good indication about how transparent the government will be regarding Uganda’s oil industry. Photo: Alisa Zomer, WRI

A Need for Transparency

Mini buses crowd the streets of Kampala, Uganda. The actors linked to Uganda’s oil agree that the discovery of petroleum is a good thing for the country, as long as there is transparency, respect for the environment and sustainable development. Photo: Richard Duncombe

Tell us about WRI’s work in Uganda.

Veit: We’ve been working in Uganda for over 20 years on a range of issues that place us nicely to deal with some of the oil issues. We have been looking at alternative revenue-sharing formulas for oil revenue management and reinvestment. We’ve been looking at issues of disclosure and transparency, specifically on the production-sharing agreements, but also more broadly on oil revenue information.

Florence [Landsberg] has been working on the environmental aspect of the potential oil effects, both to protected areas and, perhaps most importantly, on local populations around Lake Albert. More recently we’ve been working on land-grabbing issues in the oil districts. Land values have increased, the number of land transactions has increased and the number of non-Bonyoro people that have acquired land in the oil districts has increased significantly.

What are the potential environmental impacts? The Albertine Rift has great value for its biodiversity.

Landsberg: There are direct impacts; they are going to convert wild areas to settlement and things like that. But I would like to speak about the indirect impacts.

For example, the Albertine Rift in Uganda used to be quite remote. You will have more migrations of more people into the area, and better roads. The rate at which natural resources are used is going to increase - which could be an opportunity for development, except that it is not likely to be sustainable. Many local populations around the lake are fisher folks. They already have a hard time, because there are less fish and they are smaller. And now that there are more people around the lake and more access to markets, there has been more overfishing, so the situation is worsening.

You said that development would not be sustainable – why?

Landsberg: The fish stock is already at risk, because there is more catching of fish that are not mature. The upgrade of the roads has allowed for more fish to be exported. The restocking of the fish is not going to happen if there is no intervention.

Veit: To add to that, many scientists will tell you that the Albertine Rift is the most biologically diverse area in all of Africa. There are national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, forest reserves, and there already is some impact on these protected areas. For example, there is drilling in Murchison Falls National Park, even though many public interest environmental lawyers in Uganda will tell you that the law does not allow that. Kenneth Kakuru of Greenwatch has filed a pleading in the High Court over extractive resource industries in national parks.

There was already discussion of de-gazetting one of the parks to make way for an oil refinery. There is discussion of a pipeline that would take the oil to Mombassa that would have effects on biodiversity. And there is also discussion about oil workers poaching inside protected areas.

How receptive has the government of Uganda been to these issues being brought to their attention?

Veit: There’s what appears to be an interesting split between the president, his cabinet and the oil department, versus the forestry department and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. On one hand, the Wildlife Authority has threatened to kick Tullow Oil workers out of some parks. (More here.) On the other hand, there seems to be no stopping extractive industries from operating in fully protected national parks such as Murchison.

Ken Kakuru tells me that the law allows for extractive industries in reserves and sanctuaries, but not in national parks. Even if Ken’s case succeeds and the judge rules that drilling is illegal, I would not be surprised if the judge does not order the government to stop all drilling in national parks. Even if he does, I suspect the government would either not comply or simply change the law.

How much power do wildlife authorities have to follow through on threats to expel oil workers?

Veit: Not sure. But even if they have the legal authority to do so, it is unclear whether they would actually do so. My sense is that they are using the media to raise the profile and push Tullow to be more careful and watchful. Tullow doesn’t want this type of publicity.

The bottom line is: drilling is taking place in Murchison Falls and in some of the forest reserves and sanctuaries as well. The National Environment Management Authority (Nema), which approves the environmental impact assessments (EIAs), is under some political pressure in reviewing these EIAs. As far as we know, most, or all of the EIAs have been approved - an indicator that suggests the oil sector will continue to be developed. I don’t know of any oil EIAs that were rejected by Nema, although they have called for changes in the associated mitigation plans.

Landsberg: There was one project, the early production scheme, that was inside a gazetted area, that at the very last moment actually stopped. They located somewhere else. So it does happen.

Veit: An oil refinery there, which was targeted to be placed within a protected area, was subsequently scrapped. But the information we have suggest that it had less to do with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and more to do with the European funder, who was not happy.

To what degree is there enough transparency and fairness in governance to assure that the wildlife and environment authorities have genuine power?

Veit: Probably not enough. I doubt [President Yoweri] Museveni would allow drilling to stop. Eventually he would step in and broker some agreement.

We’re not privy to those discussions. The EIAs that have been approved usually come back with some conditions, which need to be met by the oil companies before they can proceed. But the bottom line is that oil development will progress in that area. There’s just too much oil, and it means too much for Uganda as a whole.

Landsberg: Under certain conditions that can be good. Establishing these conditions is the role of environmental impact assessments at project level and the strategic environmental impact assessments at regional level. That’s where there could be some improvement. The strategic environmental impact assessment hasn’t taken place yet.

The strategic environmental assessment aims at comparing different development alternatives at a regional level. It means that you don’t only look at oil development. You weigh a scenario with oil development versus a scenario with some oil, some renewable energy, some tourism development, for example. It could translate into a zoning where no oil development would be allowed in order to preserve the area’s tourist potential. A strategic environment assessment will provide the regional context in which the impacts of a specific project will happen, which will be addressed in the project EIA.

What effect do you think this year’s elections might have in terms of Uganda’s oil, how it is used and the transparency process?

Veit: If Museveni wins then probably not much. If [Kizza] Besigye wins, perhaps. The parliamentary elections are more interesting in this regard. If the opposition picks up a number of seats then they may be powerful enough to change matters. There is a caucus of MPs on oil, which can be influential.

You had mentioned problems of land grabbing. Are there proper land-use laws in place in Uganda?

Veit: Uganda’s land law recognizes undocumented customary tenure arrangement, but in practice, it can be difficult for rural people to protect their customary holdings. Much of the ‘land grabbing’ is legal. The law provides opportunities for well-connected and well-heeled individuals to acquire land through the legal processes. So a lot of that land is being taken and held in speculation for when the likely development that comes with the oil sector takes place.

I have been told that when rural people see oil workers coming on their land, they quickly sell it out of fear that the government will just expropriate it and they won’t get anything. There are more land transactions taking place in western Uganda than in any other part of the country. Many of the transactions are resulting in new owners who are not Bunyoro or Acholi – the traditional groups in western Uganda.

What we’re trying to do is create more transparency around some of these transactions. A lot of them are willing seller-willing buyer types of arrangements. But a lot of the land in that area is held under customary land arrangements, is undocumented and the transactions are being done in ways that are not clear until it’s been finalized. That’s one of the problems – the fact that a lot of it is undocumented, unregistered, untitled land. Nobody knows how much land is actually titled and registered in Uganda, but it’s actually a very, very small percentage.

Is this creating any tension locally?

Veit: Most of that area is claimed by the Bunyoro Kingdom and most of the people acquiring land are non-Bunyoro people. That’s creating problems, because a lot of people make their living off the land. When they sell their land, it creates problems for their livelihoods and well-being.

Which major oil companies are operating in Uganda?

The three companies that hold oil real estate in Uganda are Tullow, Tower and Dominion, all UK exploration companies. Tullow has made the major find in Lake Albert. They are hoping to transfer themselves into an oil production company as well. But in order to speed up production, they want to sell a third of their shares to Total France and another third to a Chinese oil company, CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Company). That sale has not yet been approved by the government of Uganda. It’s partly held up by some capital gains tax the government claims that Tullow owes them.

Do you think there will be any difference in terms of impact if a Chinese company comes in?

Veit: We’ve been grappling with that question ourselves. WRI has an office in China that we recently opened, and we have an effort ongoing to do two things. One is to put in place better social and environmental safeguards with Chinese banks that are investing in the Chinese national oil companies. The second is to work more closely with the Chinese companies themselves to make sure they actually implement those higher standards. We have been meeting with Chinese oil companies in Beijing and briefing them on Uganda laws.

The recent Wall Street Reform [and Consumer Protection] Act here in the United States requires companies to submit annual reports to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and be much more open about the revenues that they pay foreign governments. The Chinese company that is likely to buy some of these shares, as well as Total, would qualify, and therefore in their annual reports to the SEC they might have to be much more open about some of their dealings with the government of Uganda. (See WRI’s working paper for more details.)

Uganda stands to potentially gain quite a lot through its oil resources. From the work you’ve done so far, do you see a trend that indicates a positive outcome for the country’s development?

Landsberg: Locally, there are better roads, better infrastructure, better healthcare and education. There are good things for sure. The fact that people can export their fish to market is a good thing. Now it really depends - are they going to do it for two years, three years or forever? It’s about sustainability at the local level.

I think it’s a great opportunity for Uganda, and all local NGOs agree on that. We just want to make sure it’s done the best way possible.

Veit: Tullow Oil certainly has made an effort to invest in the areas in which they are drilling. That’s a good thing. The real prize here is when the oil production starts and the oil revenues begin to flow. There are statements by the president of Uganda and other senior officials that they will manage these oil revenues in ways that will promote economic growth and poverty reduction. A lot of this will be codified in three promised petroleum bills that are supposed to be presented to parliament this year and next.

We won’t know the details until those bills are public. Only one has been released so far, and it doesn’t deal with oil revenue management and reinvestment. However, it does deal with transparency issues. The public statements the president has made on transparency are not consistent with what we see in the first of these petroleum bills. The bill is much more secretive and does not allow as much disclosure on production and revenue as the president has promised or that’s in the national oil policy. So we’re a little nervous.

The Norwegians are providing guidance to the [Ugandan] government and that bodes well, because the Norwegians have done well at managing their oil. So if you have anybody in there advising the government, that’s probably a good set of actors to do so. There’s a very active NGO society, and parliamentarians are beginning to speak up on these issues. Even the High Court. For example, several years ago, Ken Kakuru took a case to the High Court to have a Power Purchase Agreement for a dam declared a public document. He won. Yet, recently, a Magistrate Court ruled that the oil Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) do not need to be released. I believe Ken will win his up-coming case in the High Court regarding the PSAs. It has made some rulings that would suggest that they have some independence from the executive branch on these matters.

Avoiding the Resource Curse: Spotlight on Oil in Uganda

Maggie Barron — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:49:34 -0500

Uganda has made significant progress in codifying the rights of access to information (ATI) and participation, and toward putting in place the institutional infrastructure, including a regulatory framework, for the oil sector. Political roll-backs that are re-concentrating power in the executive branch of government and the growing scale of known oil reserves, however, may jeopardize these advances.

In this context, the passage of a new law in the United States requiring companies that file annual reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose the payments they make to host governments for the extraction of oil, natural gas and minerals, could help shore up transparency around investment in Uganda’s extractives industry and avoid the failures in governance that have exposed other countries to the “resource curse.”

Download WRI’s Comments on Uganda’s Access to Information Regulations

Update: On 21 April 2011, the government of Uganda signed into law new regulations for implementing Uganda’s Access to Information (ATI) Act of 2005. The ATI Regulations were long awaited and widely welcomed, since many local and international advocates believed their absence had hindered full implementation of the Act, and stymied efforts to increase transparency and accountability. The Regulations support implementation of the ATI Act in a number of important ways. For example, they establish procedures for citizens to request government-held information and for government to respond to citizen requests. But the Regulations also include a number of burdensome provisions that make access unnecessarily costly and difficult and, as such, they are not in the spirit of the strong right to information provision found in Uganda’s Constitution. Read WRI’s full comments on the Regulations (PDF, 211 Kb)

Avoiding the Resource Curse: Spotlight on Uganda Oil

Janet Ranganathan — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:17:18 -0400

Can new SEC disclosure rules help bring transparency to Uganda’s oil sector?

This piece originally appeared on the Huffington Post.

Nestled near the end of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (HR 4173) is Section 1504, two and half pages of text that aim to bring much needed transparency to the extractive resources industry, especially its operations in the developing world.

President Obama’s recent speech on international development to the UN General Assembly highlighted the role of transparency and accountability as ways to improve government institutions. The financial reform bill provides one such mechanism by strengthening business and government accountability in the extractive sector.

The law requires domestic and foreign companies that submit annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to publish annually how much money they pay to U.S. and foreign governments for extracting oil, gas, and minerals.

Why does this matter?

Read the Working Paper on Uganda and the SEC Rules

This type of disclosure is critical. Lack of transparency around transactions between extractive industries and governments can lead to corruption and mismanagement of both resources and the associated revenues. The result, all too often, is the so-called “resource curse”: a paradox in which countries abundant in natural resources enjoy less economic growth and poorer development outcomes than countries with fewer natural resources. By requiring transparency around how much companies pay to foreign governments for these valuable resources, SEC disclosure will empower public interest groups to track funds more accurately and hold governments accountable.

Given its great potential, what impact will this law have in practice? Uganda, one of Africa’s newest petro-states, could provide a first test case.

Uganda and the Shadow of the ‘Resource Curse’

Uganda, a country rich in natural resources, is building a foundation for a progressive democracy. For example, it is one of a handful of countries in Africa that grants its citizens the right of access to information. But the discovery of oil in 2006 has some advocates concerned that Uganda may still fall victim to the “resource curse”.

The oil discoveries in the northern part of Uganda’s Albertine Rift spurred significant investment by foreign oil companies. As of 2009, over $700 million has been spent on oil exploration in the region. Companies have so far drilled only three of the nine exploration blocks, but have already found more than two and a half billion barrels of oil, raising high expectations for when full production begins, as early as this fall.

A Lack of Transparency

As oil production and extraction ramp up in Uganda, local NGOs have campaigned to gain access to Production Share Agreements (PSAs), the contracts between governments and resource extraction companies that dictate what percentage of revenues will go to the government. PSAs provide critical information which NGOs can use to calculate production amounts and track revenues.

However, the Ugandan government has refused to make these public, claiming that doing so would undermine the government’s negotiating position in allocating the remaining oil exploration blocks.

Since 2007, journalists have filed at least three pleadings in Ugandan courts over the release of PSAs—two in magistrate courts and one in the High Court. In the first case, heard in February of 2010, the Magistrate ruled in favor of the government by declaring that the PSAs are confidential documents based on an interpretation of the country’s Access to Information Act. In pleadings to the High Court in 2010, Greenwatch (a public-interest environmental law NGO) argued that it needs access to the PSAs in order to assess oil project impacts on the environment and public health to protect citizens’ Constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment. This case is scheduled to be heard shortly.

Help from the SEC?

Given these developments in Uganda at the national level, civil society groups in Uganda may need to look to the international arena for legislation such as the Dodd-Frank Act to gain transparency around the oil sector. The SEC rule-making period, which lasts until April 2011, will be critical in determining how the Act will play out on the ground.

Tullow Oil, the major oil exploration company with concessions in Uganda, is listed primarily on the London Stock Exchange and does not file annual reports with SEC. Tullow, however, is seeking to sell one-third of its shares to Total S.A., a French extractives company, and another one-third of its shares to the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), which are both registered with the SEC and file annual reports.

If the SEC rule-making process establishes regulations that cast a wide net, it will help Ugandan civil society get the information they need to hold their government accountable. WRI and partners will continue to track these issues and collaborate on how to build capacity of advocates, local NGO leaders and parliamentarians to learn how to acquire this information from the SEC. Only then can this new U.S. law help shift the balance of power from the government of Uganda to its citizens, and enable civil society to use this data to work with the government to improve environmental governance.

Download WRI’s Comments on the SEC Draft Regulations for Section 1504 (PDF, 124 Kb)

New Maps Guide Livestock and Economic Planning in Uganda

Scott Thompson — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:06:59 -0400

A new set of state-of-the art maps will help Uganda target livestock infrastructure investments and reduce poverty.

Livestock is an essential part of Uganda’s culture, diet, and economy. Because more than 70 percent of Ugandans own livestock, improvements in livestock health and productivity can have a direct effect on the incomes and economic prospects of many of the nation’s residents—particularly the rural poor.

But where should the government focus investments? New spatial analysis can help reveal the answer.

A primary challenge for government agencies working on development issues is coordination – planning and implementing effective interventions across multiple sectors and actors. Data is often siloed, with poverty figures kept separately from information on livestock.

Read the Report

Mapping a Better Future: Spatial Analysis and Pro-Poor Livestock Strategies in Uganda, published last week by the Ugandan government and the World Resources Institute, combines social data and livestock information to yield new insights into the poverty-livestock relationship.

By examining the spatial relationships between poverty, current livestock systems and services, and animal-borne disease hotspots, the maps illustrate economic opportunities, and will help the government target the right areas for new infrastructure, health interventions, and livestock land management.

For instance, maps showing milk surplus and deficit areas highlight geographic differences in market opportunities for poor dairy farmers. About 3.5 million Ugandans currently live in areas that produce more milk than their residents consume. At the same time, approximately 800,000 poor people live in areas that do not produce enough milk. This information can help policymakers, dairy researchers and development agencies support poor farmers and invest in appropriate infrastructure in regions where it is most needed – including infrastructure to help farmers with surplus get their products to other markets.

Dairy Development Hubs and Poverty Rate

Dairy development hubs, where farmers’ milk is bulked and cooled, and where they can access credit and training, serve as community anchors. This map shows that these hubs are more likely to be located in more prosperous areas.

Mapping a Better Future is the third installment in a series of publications using maps and spatial analysis to reduce poverty in Uganda. Two previous reports targeted wetlands and water and sanitation. By providing illustrative maps and analyses of their policy repercussions, the reports demonstrate how information on the location and severity of poverty can assist decision-makers in all sectors to set intervention priorities, stimulate economic growth, and protect the Uganda’s most vulnerable citizens.

Mapping a Better Future: Spatial Analysis and Pro-Poor Livestock Strategies in Uganda

Maggie Barron — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:09:54 -0400

Executive Summary

Livestock represents an essential part of Uganda’s agriculture, culture, and economy. While the growth of Uganda’s total agricultural output has declined, livestock trends are up considerably. The total number of cattle, sheep, and goats more than doubled between 2002 and 2008, and the number of pigs and chickens grew by 88 and 59 percent, respectively. Beef and milk production both increased by 8 percent in 2008 alone.

Additional Resources

Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda

Mapping a Healthier Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Guide Pro-Poor Water and Sanitation Planning in Uganda

Livestock are particularly important to the subsistence agriculture on which seven out of ten Ugandans rely for their livelihood. While income from livestock provides only one of many sources of income for rural households, people typically rank livestock as their second or third most important means of livelihood. It is not surprising then that over 70 percent of all households in Uganda owned livestock in 2008. Indeed, smallholders and pastoralists dominate the livestock sector. Farming households with mixed crop and livestock production and pastoralists together own 90 percent of Uganda’s cattle and almost all of the country’s poultry, pigs, sheep, and goats.

Uganda’s policymakers have acknowledged the importance of livestock to household incomes, the achievement of national food security and the Millennium Development Goals, as well as to employment creation and poverty reduction. Thus, as part of its National Development Plan covering 2010/11-2014/15, the government intends to boost meat and dairy production by increasing its investments in improved breeds, water infrastructure for livestock, and better management of rangeland and forage resources.

Rationale and Approach

Ensuring that government investments in the livestock sector benefit smallholders and high-poverty locations will require more evidence-based local planning supported by data, maps, and analyses. Mapping a Better Future: Spatial Analysis and Pro-Poor Livestock Strategies in Uganda is intended to address this need. To do so, it compares the latest 2005 poverty maps with maps of livestock data from the 2002 population and housing census and the 2008 national livestock census. Using these data, it examines the spatial relationships between poverty, livestock production systems, the location of livestock services such as dairy cooling plants, and livestock disease hotspots.

By providing illustrative examples of maps that can be developed with these indicators and analyses of what they mean for policy, this report demonstrates how information on the location and severity of poverty can assist livestock sector decision-makers in setting priorities for interventions.

Similarly, decision-makers concerned with poverty reduction will see how comparing levels of poverty in a given location with maps of livestock indicators can inform efforts to fight poverty.

This report is intended for a variety of audiences, including analysts and decision-makers in the livestock and dairy sectors, personnel involved in livestock research and advisory services, officials involved in national planning and budgeting, and civil society and nongovernmental organizations. It is motivated by the fact that, while there is a growing body of knowledge about Uganda’s livestock sector, comparatively little is known about the interrelationship between livestock and poverty. Two factors have contributed to this knowledge gap: (1) Household surveys undertaken to date in Uganda have not managed to break down household income into its various components so that an explicit link can be made between welfare and the role of livestock at the household level; (2) Subnational poverty and livestock data for small administrative areas have only recently become available.

The spatial analysis approach taken in this report provides a way forward. It suggests that by integrating more detailed information on livestock distribution, animal husbandry and veterinary service provision, disease incidence, and poverty, planners can more effectively design and target livestock management interventions and policies so that the benefits reach a greater proportion of poor communities and the costs associated with land-use changes or new restrictions on livestock use do not disproportionately affect the poor.

Findings

While the maps and analyses in this report are primarily designed to demonstrate the value to decision-makers of combining social and livestock-related information, they also support the following conclusions:

Maps showing milk surplus and deficit areas can highlight geographic differences in market opportunities for poor dairy farmers and help target knowledge dissemination, market infrastructure investments, and service delivery to dairy farmers.
Maps showing animal (and human) disease risk by livestock production system can help target and prioritize areas for intervention. The impact of disease on livestock and their owners differs geographically because the role of livestock in peoples’ livelihoods varies among production systems.
Mapping poverty, livestock production systems, and distribution of disease vectors such as tsetse allows a better understanding of how the disease affects livestock owners in terms of livelihoods, welfare, and food security.

Recommendations

Strengthening the supply of high-quality spatial data and analytical capacity will provide broad returns to future planning and prioritization of livestock sector and poverty reduction efforts. Priority actions to achieve this include:

Fill important livestock data gaps, regularly update data, and continue the supply of poverty data for small administrative areas.
Strengthen data integration, mapping, and analysis through regular and focused training that promotes understanding of the whole livestock production system.

Promoting the demand for such indicators and spatial analyses will require leadership from several government agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of Local Government, and National Planning Authority. Actions in the following three areas carry the promise of linking the supply of new maps and analyses with specific decision-making opportunities:

Incorporate poverty information in livestock-related interventions and in regular performance reporting for the livestock sector.
Incorporate livestock sector information into poverty reduction efforts.
Incorporate poverty maps and maps of livestock production systems, disease risk, etc. into local decision-making.

Tsetse Distributions, Uganda

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:49:19 -0400

It is estimated that some 70 percent of Uganda is infested with 11 species of tsetse, each of which occupies a different ecological niche. This map shows the aggregate distribution of three tsetse species in Uganda – glossina fuscipes fuscipes, g. pallidipes, and g. morsitans submorsitans.

Dairy Development Hubs and Poverty Rate by Subcounty, Uganda

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:44:03 -0400

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Overview

Dairy development hubs, where farmers’ milk is bulked and cooled, and where they can access credit, training, knowledge, and inputs through farmer-owned enterprises, serve as community anchors. When fully functioning, the dairy hub is a dynamic cluster of services and activities that generate greater income for farmers. By using this system, the quality of milk passing through the traditional market will be improved and access to formal markets will be facilitated through farmer owned-and-operated chilling plants.

This map displays dairy development hubs and a 20-kilometer ‘buffer’ zone. The circles (outlined in blue for ten hubs with chilling plants and in red for five traditional market hubs) approximate catchment areas from where the milk is expected to be supplied by local farmers.

Data Sources

International boundaries (NIMA, 1997), district administrative boundaries (UBOS, 2006a), subcounty administrative boundaries (UBOS, 2002a), water bodies (NFA, 1996; NIMA, 1997; Brakenridge et al., 2006), economic development hubs (ILRI, 2009), milk surplus (ILRI calculation based on IFPRI, 2002), and poverty density (UBOS and ILRI, 2008).

Copyright

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License . Cite “World Resources Institute.”

Other WRI Featured Maps

This map is part of a continuing project to produce maps that shed light on significant environmental issues throughout the world.

Poverty Density by Subcounty in High Milk Surplus Areas, Uganda

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:40:13 -0400

A milk surplus and deficit map can be compared with maps showing poverty rates and poverty densities in order to plan more pro-poor dairy interventions. Such overlays can, for example, pinpoint locations with multiple deprivations (e.g., high levels of poverty and a shortfall of milk) or with greater potential to reach a higher number of poor in an investment area.

This map looks at the high milk surplus areas (with a surplus greater than 3,000 liters of milk per square kilometer per year) in relation to poverty density.

Poverty Rate by Subcounty in Milk Deficit Areas, Uganda

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:31:46 -0400

Focusing on milk deficit areas (with shortfalls greater than 500 liters of milk per square kilometer per year) and overlaying them with poverty rates shows the following patterns:

Mid- to high poverty rates and high milk deficits are more widespread in eastern Uganda such as in Pallisa, Kumi, Budaka, and Kaliro Districts. These areas also have comparably high poverty densities (40-60 poor persons per square kilometer).
Low poverty rates with high milk deficits are scattered across the central and southwestern parts of the country. Many of these areas appear to be in locations that are more remote and further from big cities.

This brief comparison suggests that investment in dairy development efforts in the highlighted eastern parishes could potentially achieve two objectives: help move households out of poverty and improve local milk supply with nutritional benefits for poor households.

Uganda: Potential Milk Surplus and Deficit by Parish, 2002

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:18:33 -0400

This map compares potential local milk supply and demand and shows clear patterns of net milk surplus and deficit. The map comes from an analysis using geographic information system (GIS) data coupled with national surveys (not local consumption data).

Uganda: Poverty Density by Rural Subcounty: Number of People Below the Poverty Line per Square Kilometer, 2005

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:12:20 -0400

This map gives a visual representation of the poverty density: the number of poor per square kilometer in 2005.

Uganda Poverty Rate: Percentage of Rural Subcounty Population Below the Poverty Line, 2005

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:02:19 -0400

Geography can play a role in determining relative levels of household well-being, as can be seen in Uganda’s latest poverty maps (for 2005). Subcounties with high poverty levels tend to be clustered, as are the wealthier subcounties. The highest incidences of poverty—greater than 60 percent of the population living below Uganda’s official rural poverty line—are seen across the north of the country. Still high, at 40–60 percent, are the districts of Nyadri, Arua, and Nebbi in the northwest, with another dozen districts stretching across to eastern Uganda, where most of the districts fall in the 30–40 percent poverty range. Low poverty levels (less than 15 percent) are found in pockets of western and southern Uganda, and around Kampala. The reasons for this spatial pattern are complex, and include factors such as rainfall and soil quality (which determine agricultural potential), land and labor availability, degree of economic diversification, level of market access, and issues of security and instability.

Uganda: Major Livestock Species by Subcounty, 2002

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:39:54 -0400

These maps give a visual representation of average livestock densities in number of animals per square kilometer of cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and poultry in subcounties across Uganda, drawing on modeled data from the 2002 population and housing census.