The co-existence of sustainable forest management amidst oil development: analyzing resource policy options for Uganda--East Africa
Date
2021
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The development of oil resources in tropical countries is a significant driver of deforestation and its associated loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, empirical research on realizing sustainable forest management amidst the implementation of oil development policies in tropical countries of Sub-Saharan Africa is minimal. This dissertation is organized into three independent chapters. Together, these chapters analyze the policy options for enabling the co-existence of sustainable forest management amidst ongoing oil development activities within oil-rich countries of sub-Saharan Africa collectively. The study adopts a case study methodology of Hoima District in Uganda with an overall theoretical framework of the Forest Transition Theory (FTT). ☐ Chapter 2 of this study applies a Driver Pressure State Impact Response (DPSIR) framework within a single case study methodology to investigate the spatial and temporal deforestation outcomes following the implementation of Uganda’s commercial oil development policy in 2006 within Hoima District. We conclude that the implementation of Uganda’s oil development policy has resulted in significant and observable increases in annual rates of deforestation in Hoima District. Annual deforestation in Hoima District was declining at a rate of -1.9% per year in the period before commercial oil development started (2001-2006). However, this increased to 34% annual forest cover loss after the commencement of oil development (2007-219). We estimated that 202,813 forest hectares were lost between 2007 and 2019, potentially resulting in the loss of 18 tree species from Hoima District. Our study found that high population growth, the expansion, and intensification of subsistence agriculture because of commercial oil development maybe some of the significant deforestation drivers leading to accelerated forest cover loss in Hoima district. ☐ In Chapter 3 of this study, we apply the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework to synthesize 14 years of forest policy discourses in Uganda’s national print media (The Daily Monitor) during oil development in Hoima District. Our results in this Chapter seem to indicate that the top three drivers featured in Uganda’s print media discourse were forest policy failures (57%), infrastructure expansion (14%), agricultural development (8%), and co-joined drivers (8%). Our study also found that peripheral actors had a more robust media standing (52%) than center actors (48%) among the 18 distinct policy actors we identified. Specifically, the most predominant policy actors in shaping print-media discourses on deforestation and oil development were journalists (24%), National Forest Authority (NFA, 24%), and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs, 10%). Overall, our results seem to indicate that Uganda’s policy transition from a traditional paradigm of forest management based on cultural values to a modern paradigm based mainly on scientific forest management has not been beneficial to the sustainable forest management outcomes within the country. There is a clear need for a new forest policy paradigm that could complement modern paradigms of forest elements with beneficial values and other traditional paradigm elements. ☐ In Chapter 4, we undertook a comparative assessment of deforestation in three oil-rich countries of Sub-Saharan Africa of Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria. This Chapter applies a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) framework through a multi-case study methodology. Our results show that agricultural expansion, increased wood extraction, and population growth drive most deforestation in oil-rich nations. However, the role of infrastructure expansion and forest policy failures were contested drivers of deforestation. ☐ Our study finds that the original FTT theory currently applied in most forest policy studies was inadequate as a research tool in assessing the totality of deforestation effects from oil development activities. This preceding observation was mostly so when we considered the long-term and cumulative impacts of deforestation, which are associated with the loss of intangible natural and cultural ecosystem services. Therefore, we proposed the Novel Forest Ecosystem Transition Theory (NFETT) theory, which integrates the loss of natural and cultural ecosystem services alongside forest cover loss within the various forest transitions. Addressing deforestation through the NFETT brings to light various policy options for ensuring the co-existence of oil development activities alongside sustainable forest management. To this end, we recommend that oil-rich countries should, among others; i) internalize costs of deforestation through Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) policies; ii) improve policy coordination to manage multicausal deforestation drivers; iii) population growth management policies; iv) policies for sustainable agriculture and woodfuel solutions; v) strengthen Sustainable Forest Management considerations in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) permitting processes and vi) improving environmental governance through the EITI process. These measures used in combination can go a long way in ensuring the successful co-existence of sustainable forest management during oil development in oil-rich countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Keywords
Environmental studies, Forestry, Oil, Resource policy, Uganda