The Forests Act and subsidiary legislation or Statutory Instruments, give the Commissioner for Forestry the power to manage gazetted forests and, therefore, to issue permits for cutting, grazing and cultivation etc. in the forest reserves. The forest revenue and licensing system is applied to all trees on reserved land and to trees classified as “reserved” on non-reserved land. The Forestry Department also has a mandate to collect charges on the production of all forest products, including production from non-reserved trees.
The two pieces of legislation that give the Minister the power to set forest charges are the Forests Act and the Forest Rules. Forest charges are set out in a Statutory Instrument (called a “Forest Produce Fees and Licences Order”) in accordance with the Forests Act. In the early 1990's when inflation was very high in Uganda, the World Bank recommended that these charges should be reviewed annually, but in practice this has not happened. For example, revisions were suggested in 1994 and 1997, but these were not implemented. The latest set of forest charges is contained in Statutory Instrument 2000 No 16. Before this recent revision to the forest charges, the old charges did not reflect the market value of forest products.
The process of setting forest charges starts with a survey of the local market prices of forest products. This survey is carried out at the district level by District Forest Officers (DFOs) and in urban areas by headquarters staff. The results of the survey are compiled, analysed and discussed by staff selected by the Commissioner for Forestry. As part of this analysis, the differences between the existing forest charges and the open market prices of products are considered.
During the process of analysing the forest charges there is some consultation. Most of this consultation is with forest concession holders who are, as might be expected, always opposed to increases in forest charges. The output of this analysis is a provisional list of forest charges, which is reviewed by the Commissioner. After the Commissioner has reviewed the proposed charges, a proposed revision to the Forest Produce Fees and Licences Order is sent to the Minister for review. If the Minister is satisfied with the proposal, a Statutory Instrument is issued in accordance with powers given to the Minister under Section 30 of the Forests Act.
The revised forest charges become effective from the date that this Statutory Instrument is published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Uganda. Changes to the existing Statutory Instrument can be made by the Minister and these are issued as supplementary amendments (signed by the Minster) and published in the Official Gazette.
As described above, the Forest Produce Fees and Licences Order 2000 classifies forest produce into timber, poles, fagots, fencing posts, palms, firewood, charcoal, bamboo, Christmas tree, seeds and seedlings, palms, rattan canes, and Minor Forest Produce (MFP). The procedures used to assess and collect forest charges are different for each of these different types of forest product.
Timber royalty is charged per cubic meter and the volume used in the calculation of royalties is the standing volume of roundwood that will be harvested. In forest plantations, diameter at breast height (dbh) is used to estimate tree volume, while in the natural high forests a technique of stock mapping, called Integrated Stock Survey and Management Inventory (ISSMI), is used to determine the roundwood volume for the purpose of collecting charges.
Concession Rangers measure the trees that will be harvested and volumes are estimated using volume tables. The procedures used to measure and assess harvesting volumes for the purpose of calculating charges have recently changed. Under the previous system, the Concession Ranger measured the mid-diameter and length of each log that had been harvested. Then they estimated log volumes from these measurements using a volume table and charges were assessed using a list showing the charges per cubic metre for each species. The species and volume of logs harvested were recorded on a standard tree volume measurement form, which was sent to the District Forest Officer (DFO) with a copy to the forest concessionaire. The concessionaire would then pay the amounts due to the DFO in cash or by cheque or bank draft.
The disadvantage of this system was that only the best logs were taken and there was a tendency amongst concessionaires to reject short logs and trees with minor defects. This resulted in a lot of wasted logs that could have been used to make sawnwood and, ultimately, a loss in revenue to the Forestry Department.
In order to minimise this waste, the Forestry Department has recently abolished this system and now bases charges on the volume of whole trees harvested. In addition, forest concessionaires now have to pay their forest charges before harvesting.
Under this new system, a stock map is produced before harvesting, which shows all of the trees above the minimum cutting diameter. These trees are numbered with blue water-resistant paint. Tree species and stem quality is assessed and recorded and the relative positions of these trees are shown on the stock map. The Concession Ranger uses this information to identify and decide which trees should be cut and to locate these trees in the field. Charges for the volume actually cut by a forest concessionaire are deducted from the advance payments made by the concessionaire and once the amount paid in advance is exhausted, the concessionaire is stopped from cutting more trees until they make another payment.
It is the responsibility of the Concession Ranger to ensure that only the marked trees are harvested. The Concession Ranger must also ensure that silvicultural practices are observed. This is done on a daily basis with occasional checks by the DFO and staff from headquarters. The DFO and biometrics staff from headquarters also occasionally check that only marked trees are cut. If the forest concessionaire does not observe forest regulations and the conditions of their licence, their licence is suspended or cancelled.
Although this system was only implemented one year ago, it has already resulted in a significant reduction in waste. Every part of a tree that can be utilised is now taken and the efficiency of the new system in other areas is now being assessed.
Charges for poles are based on diameter classes. Poles with a dbh between 5 cm and 14 cm are sold as whole trees. Above 14cm dbh, poles are charged per running meter. It is the responsibility of the Concession Ranger to assess the charges and payments are either made directly to the DFO's office or are collected by the Concession Ranger and submitted to the DFO.
Faggots are charged per head load, fencing posts per running meter, firewood either per stacked cubic meter or as monthly licenses. Charcoal production licenses are also issued on a monthly basis, as are the licences for other forest products that are not easily quantifiable. Such licenses are issued by the DFO on payment of the prescribed fees.
As in the case of timber royalties, the responsible DFO also has to supervise the collection of charges on other forest products with occasional checks by staff from headquarters. The involvement of local communities in the collection of charges is uncommon in Uganda except in the case of ecotourism initiatives developed under co llaborative forest management arrangements.
As regards the payment of other charges, the only charge paid directly to headquarters is the registration fee, which is paid before a concession is awarded. All of the revenue collected at the District Forest Office is submitted to the Commissioner for Forestry every month along with monthly revenue returns.
With the current system used to measure volume and assess charges, the amount of revenue collected and reported depends upon the integrity and honesty of the Concession Ranger and DFO. It is the responsibility of the DFO to supervise the Concession Ranger, but staff from Forestry Department headquarters occasionally make visits to carry out on-the-spot checks. If these people are not honest, the system can easily be abused. Local communities are not yet involved in the collection of charges and checking production levels, although Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) has been initiated by the Forestry Department.
Following the accounting instruction issued by the Government of Uganda, official receipts are given for all central government revenues. The receipts used are Republic of Uganda General Receipts issued by the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance and receipt books are issued to all DFOs for the purpose of collecting forest revenues at the District level. The money collected during the month is kept in collection accounts with local banks and, at the end of each month, bank drafts are prepared in favour of the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Land, Water and Environment. These are submitted to the Commissioner for Forestry and are accompanied by revenue returns for the month.
For the purpose of generating statistics of forest products and revenue collection, standard forms are completed by DFOs and are regularly submitted to the Commissioner for Forestry. Examples include: the annual summary of production of roundwood and charcoal; annual details of production of industrial wood; details of the production of poles, fuelwood, charcoal, other wood and non-wood products and services; records of industrial wood production and wood product production; records of the exports and imports of wood and wood products; and annual revenue reports.
Up until the late 1970’s, when the Forestry Department was well equipped and field staff had the facilities that they needed, there was a smooth flow of information within the Forestry Department and all of these forms were promptly completed and submitted to the Commissioner for Forestry by DFOs. At Forestry Department headquarters, this information was compiled into production and utilisation statistics.
However, during the 1980’s, many routine activities came to a halt because of the general decline in government administration caused by political turmoil. Transport equipment was not replaced and the Forestry Department ran out of stationery. Field staff became poorly motivated and illegal production of forest products became much more common. Therefore, it was very difficult to record production during this period.
The situation improved in the early 1990’s during the Forestry Department Rehabilitation Project. Attempts were made to revive most routine activities, including the collection of forest production and utilisation data. While there was considerable success at the field level, not much effort was put into compiling and consolidating the information from DFOs at Forestry Department headquarters. Nevertheless, as one of the activities of the EC Forestry Project, a database has been established for the Forestry Department and the Department has started to enter data into this. For practical reasons, this data is being entered for the years from 1995 onwards. Standard reports have been designed to give annual and quarterly statistics of forest production and utilisation. Over time, this database will be used to hold all forest production statistics.
Under the decentralised system of government implemented in Uganda, local councils (LCs) have been established in all districts at the following levels: villages (LC 1); parishes (LC 2); sub-counties (LC 3); counties and municipalities (LC 4); and districts (LC 5). Local councils do play an important and useful role in revenue collection in other sectors but, unlike other parts of the government administration, forestry has not been decentralised. Thus, only the Forestry Department has the responsibility to collect forest revenue.
However, although they are not involved in revenue collection, forty percent of the gross revenue collected by the Forestry Department is allocated to local councils. This is normally received at the LC 5 (District) level. A certain amount of this is supposed to be remitted to the LC 3 (sub-county) level by the LC 5 administration, but this is seldom done.
The revenue shared with local councils only includes the revenue collected from the production of forest products in central government forest reserves and public land. Public land is land held by the Uganda Land Commission that has not been leased to anybody. However, according to the new land law, all land belongs to the people, so public land no longer exists. Thus, any revenue collected from forest production on such land should now be given to the landowners. Similarly, revenue collected from the production of forest products in local forest reserves should all be given to the appropriate local administration.
