At Current Rate Of Reserve Destruction, Uganda Will Be Out Of Timber In 5-8 Years

[hatrack]

IF the current rate of encroachment on forest reserves continues unchecked, Uganda will run out of timber in the next five to eight years, the Ministry of Water and Environment has warned.

"Uganda's current standing volume of timber is estimated to last the next 5-8 years only after which the government will have to import timber to meet growing demands for the booming construction industry," Water and Environment Minister Maria Mutagamba says in a draft Cabinet memorandum she will soon present to her colleagues.

Figures from Uganda Bureau of Statistics show that construction is growing at a rate of three percent per annum, making it one of the fastest growing sectors of the Ugandan economy.

The memorandum seeks Cabinet's political and financial support towards the ministry's efforts in solving the existing encroachment problems, halting further encroachment and other illegal activities in all forest reserves in the country. "My Ministry is encouraging Private sector investment (currently at about 3,000 investors licensed) to plant trees for timber to reduce on the period of this anticipated shortage," writes the minister in her memo.

EDIT

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/Uganda_running_out_of_timber.shtml

[Nihil]

1. Locusts.

> Uganda's current standing volume of timber is estimated to last the
> next 5-8 years only after which the government will have to import
> timber to meet growing demands for the booming construction industry

Use up all the local resources then consume those from outside the area.

Why are humans so short-term in their thinking? So selfish? So greedy?
So f*cking destructive?

[NNadir]

2. Other than that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln... n/t