The concept builds on the lessons drawn since 2014 through different Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) interventions. Key lessons that have been incorporated in this concept include; a) the need to strengthen the civil society organizations, communities and producer organizations based on their strategic plans, b) the need to support emergence of Private sector/market driven conservation approaches and green value-chains development and conservation enterprises c) the need to improve efficiency through technology adoption to reduce on wasteful consumption of forest resources and to diversify forest products from restored areas d) the need to aggressively restore the degraded, bare, unproductive and climate risk sites with production plantations and Agroforestry technologies to buffer the few remaining protected areas, improve resilience and enhance household investments e) the need to pilot sustainable financing mechanisms among the implementing communities to scale up interventions beyond the projects lifetime.
Building from lessons WWF-UCO has drawn step-wise model to make FLR an inclusive bankable venture that include brings smallholder timber wood into the bio-wood economy while attracting early revenue streams through the mitigating Value-chains such as nurseries, revolving funds, Apiary and high value-nuts value-chains.
It is against this background that we propose an Albertine Rift Forest Landscape Restoration project to leverage on the current gains and build sustainable landscapes, resilient communities and bankable FLR businesses that will ensure that FLR is a cyclic economy for all including smallholders in their cooperatives.
The project impacts will be:
At Least 10,000ha of degraded forests in the sub landscapes of Bugoma-Kagombe, Kalinzu-Maramagambo, Bwidi-Mgahinga Ecosystems restored
14,000 hectares of bankable FLR raw materials planted in buffer zones;
Merchantable yield of timber in buffer zones increased from 1 Million cubic meters to 1.5 million cubic meters per annum,
At least one central processing unit for entry level panel products (veneer and plywood) established and products diversified,
At least 4000 new jobs created,
Reduced incidences of climate hazards such as landslides, encroachment on parks and natural forests halted by 50%,
At least 2 million tonnes of carbon sequestered in 20 years.
At Least 8 cooperatives of wood value strengthened for market creation and enhanced motivation to invest in Landscape restoration.
The project will address drivers of forest loss and degradation linked to poverty, wasteful consumption, unsustainable utilization, illegal timber trade, inefficient utilization, limited value addition and product diversification, low quality of products, low stocks of bankable raw materials and disorganized value-chain actors.