Uganda becomes the first tropical country to make available its National Forest Inventory

As part of building global capacity to increase transparency in the forest sector (CBIT-Forest), FAO supported the building of the National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) in Uganda between 2020 and 2021.

Activities included a needs and gaps assessment of the NFMS, definition of a work plan which implemented discussion workshops, capacity building activities as well as the preparation of reports, all aimed at providing the NFMS with functionalities to improve its effectiveness and increase its transparency in regards to forest data.

An important result of this process is that Uganda is the first tropical country to make the metadata and microdata of its National Forest Inventory (namely NBS, National Biomass Survey) openly available, at the level of the single tree.

This availability of NBS data through the FAO Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) catalogue which, since 2021, is hosting a special section entirely dedicated to forest microdata.

The redistribution of microdata is supported by the publication of two important documents (available in the FAM catalogue)  that help to better understand the context of the collection: the National Forest Inventory Report and the Field Manual for data collection.

The process has demonstrated a strong interest from the Ugandan forestry authorities towards transparency in the dissemination of forestry data. The data, now accessible to all for monitoring and evaluation, tailoring programs and interventions, and monitoring important trends. In addition, disseminating and promoting user access to micro datasets maximizes their value for evidence-based decision making by enabling open research and analysis.

The National Biomass Survey (NBS) - was designed in 1989 to quantify biomass stock across the landscape in all woody formations including bush and agricultural residues with the purpose to evaluate how biomass energy contributes to Uganda’s total delivered energy. After the REDD+ programme engagement, Uganda used the biomass information from NBS for climate reporting, to estimate the emission factors to be used in the Forest Reference Level and Biennial Updated Report submissions.

The preparation of the NBS dataset for the release was an elaborate job that required a careful assessment of the risks, putting particular attention to the stewardship of issues related to data confidentiality. In parallel, some supporting documents including the metadata description of the NBS dataset will help anyone accessing the data to take full advantage of it.

Together with in-situ implementation actions, transparency in the forestry data is of vital importance for the achievement of the Paris Agreement. The Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use was joined by over 140 countries accounting for more than 90% of the world's forests at COP 26. Transparent and accurate information on the status and trends of countries’ forests and land use will be fundamental to achieving this ambitious Declaration. 

Uganda today represents a pioneering example that will hopefully be followed by many other countries in the quest to improve our ability to know, monitor, protect, and increase global forest areas.