Abstract
IN the annual report for the year ending December 31, 1940 (Entebbe, Govt. Printer, Uganda, 1941), the Conservator, after detailing the totalareas of forest under control, says that under a reclassification of the forests the area of protection reserves has increased at the expense of production reserves. Except for forty–eight square miles of high forest,all the new areas gazetted were savannah land or bush-covered hills withsome gallery forest in the valleys. For those with an acquaintance of local African conditions this reservation of savannah and bush lands is ofthe greatest significance and the Forest Department may be congratulated on its action. It is not the less disturbing, therefore, to read that “Reconnaissance continued on a reduced scale and there are still some 1,000 square miles in the Eastern and Western Provinces which are known to require reservation. In Buganda the need for reconnaissance and reservations was recognized by Government, but staff was not available to make a start.” This question, the inadequacy of staff, has interrupted other valuable work in progress. It cannot but be disheartening to Forest Departments when the Administration responsible are unable to realize that forest property and management differ widely from the short–term (in years) policy with which agricultural lands can be treated. In the general interests of the communities as a whole, especially when more or less directly dependent upon the forests, not even the stresses of an Empire War should be allowed to imperil the future of such forest areas.
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Forestry in Uganda. Nature 148, 194 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148194b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148194b0