Forest fires pose a significant threat to commercial tree farmersand potentially leading to the destruction of plantations, loss of revenue, causing environmental damage and thus highlightingthe need for proactive fire prevention and management strategies. Forest fires are plantation forestry’s most feared and detested hazard and uncontrolled forest blazes are fueled by dry & hot weather, wind, and weeds. Forest fires can burn acres of land and consume everything in their paths in minutes. A forest fire moves at a speed of up to 14 miles an hour consumingevery- thing including trees, brush, wild animals and even humans. In Uganda there are no fire helicopters that can be used to control extreme forest fires beyond the local methods. In Feb2025, charred remains of over 1000 acres of forest plantation was swept away forest fire in Nakasongola district and locals blame the herds men who allegedly set fires in anticipation of early rains in March 2025, other sources claim that it was sabotage or charcoal burners who lost control of the fire but the strong winds fueled the rapid spread and hence worsening the devastation. According to Uganda Timber Growers Association (UTGA), uncontrolled fires are a major problem because they pose a risk to life, property, the environment and forest fires have ruined many plantations of their members over years. The expansion of human settlements across the countryside into areas bordering fire-adapted lands and fire-vulnerable commercial forests has put people increasingly at risk from forest –fires and sometimes, small fires frequently escalate into disastrous, uncontrolled forest fires. Most forest fires are caused by farmers burning to prepare farms to grow crops, grazers who burn to realize the sprouting of new, fresh and young grass for their animals, bee hunters while harvesting their hives and arsonists who are maliciously touching plantations owing to present or perceived land and other disputes. In the past two years, UTGA recorded 2237 ha of its members farm acreage lost to forest fires. Uganda has two fire seasons that align with rainfall patterns at their lowest, the December- February dry spell is the most severe and menacing keeping plantation foresters awake in Central region, Northern and Eastern Uganda but the June -August spell is high–fire intensive spell in south western Uganda.
Global warming and persistent hot weather due to climate change and forest-fires mutually reinforce each other, and the fires burning today in Uganda and many parts of the world are bigger, more intense, and last longer than they used to occur. For example, the calfonias’most catastrophic forest-fire in the history of USA has costed insured home owners losses reaching as much as USD 250 bn and forecasted insured losses of about USD 750 bn and if the current trends continue, there will be devastating long-term consequences.
In respect to climate change action, a greater number of more intense fires will release millions of extra tonnes of carbon, decimate biodiversity, destroy vital ecosystems, impact economies and people, threaten property and livelihoods, and cause severe long-term health problems for millions around the world. It is estimated that humans are responsible for around 75% of all forest fires and much of the increase in fire incidents during 2020-2024 can be directly linked to human actions. This means solutions are in our grasp too and there’s no magic bullet that will fix the issue overnight, but there are ways forward if behaviors of the past are changed. Globally the annual area burned has averaged 3.4 million km2, or just over 2% of the global land surface. But the picture varies around the world, and today figures suggest that unless more is done more fire disasters will occur.
According to AIGP Stephen Tanui, the director fire preventionand rescue services Uganda Police Force, he was concerned that fire seasons are getting longer, and extreme fire seasons are more common and climate change is also making fire seasons increasingly unpredictable and this leaves less time outside the season for prescribed fires which makes forest management more complex. He was further concerned about the lack of fire helicopter which makes commercial tree farmers only exposed to traditional way of fire control and this is to include locals using tree leaves, spraying fire using containers holding littlewater quanties, green belts, fire lines and the use of bananastems in some parts of western Uganda to put off forest fire. He appreciated the need for a fire–helicopter that would save hundreds of commercial tree farmers in Uganda and he asserted that, himself is a tree commercial tree farmer and his retirementinvestment almost came to an end by a careless and a drunkard smoker who started fire towards his tree plantation and goodenough the villagers were vigilant in using traditional means to control the escalating fire from the neighborhood. Listening from him, i also recalled by my personal experience in August2024 when a village woman burning dry grass as she prepared her garden for planting lost control of fire due to scorching sun mixed with strong winds and the woman made an alarm attracting the attention of villagers to the incident as shevarnished in a thin air for fear of her life and to date, I have never seen her. According to the site report on that day 70people from the community fought to control fire from reaching the pie tree plantation for a complete 5 hours and since i was in Kampala giving communication and coordination support, it was by good luck for me not to have lost my life time retirement investment but the family too was psychologically upset for a few days. The presence of fire breaks and the green belts saved the situation but though I lacked water infrastructure. Foe effective forest fire prevention and control, it is essential to set up an effective surveillance network which allows reducing the time between the ignition and the detection of the fire and it focuses particularly on all activities which can cause a fire. The surveillance is based on the combination of various observations and detection means and communication and it could be mobile or fixed. The combination of local measures performed by the community proves to be particularly effective for quick intervention in controlling fire during days at very high risk.Currently the average control and prevention methods that are being used in forest fire management are measures that can prevent and control forest fires which are less costly while others require sizable investment. Creation of green belts, buffer zones, early warning systems, community mass sensitization, development of road infrastructure to enable quick access, marking of water zones and investment into water infrastructure using gravity flow technology in hilly areas and induced water pumping using power and solar energy in flat areas are so crucial and to be honest, commercial tree farmers must appreciate the role of insurance as a risk measure to guard against potential losses.
Counting the losses and gains, Timber harvest following forest–fire leads to different outcomes depending on the biophysical setting of the forest, pattern of burn severity, operational aspects of tree removal, and other management activities. Fire effects range from relatively minor, in which fire burns through the understory and may kill a few trees, to severe, in which fire kills most trees. Evaluating the loss caused by forest fire is so complex and it requires technical support from experts. The loss of the entire life time investment does not only cause economic loss but also posses’ long term psychological and mental health challenges. Using a simple matrix in measuring the cost of investment while looking at input–output relationship and the legitimate expectations in the medium and long run, an acre of land accommodates 1150 seedlings on 3 by 3 metre radius and thus 100 acres can accommodate 115,000 pine trees. The cost of land acquisition is approximately 5-6 million per acre in remote areas and it may cost 500m or less to acquire 100 acres of land for tree farming and an estimated 120m UGX on labor to plant100 acres but this may differ from one region to another. The opportunity cost for an investment cost and alternative foregone on land use e.g. planting coffee, cocoa, bananas, Maize and cattle farming is so expensive and still commercial tree farming is a capital-intensive investment with almost no available credit sources and this is because the payback period is long-term. The loss can be further aggregated into loss of revenue from tourism, carbon credit and tapping resin. Hypothetically, a 20-year-old pine tree estate on 100 acres with un interrupted growth due to forest fire may fetch between 20bn to 23bn Ugx excluding additional incomes from carbon credit and tapping resin.
Therefore, the outset for this article was to advocate for a public Private Partnership between the key stake holders to overcome forest fire challenges as they can come together and jointly invest to save their investments. The Director Fire prevention and rescue services-UPF called this an innovation that will address and reduce the fears by the tree farmers. Compared to private sector, Government is also affected by forest fires in national parks, artificial forests and natural forests. The Uganda wildlife authority has been mostly affected due to loss of revenue from tourism as a result of wild-life that leads to animaldeath, migrations and dis-orientation of the wildlife ecosystem. The National Forestry Authority has over the years lost potential acreage of artificial and natural forests due to fire and thus great revenue is lost. The Public Private Partnership in fire control and investment will bring together key stakeholders and this is to include, private tree farmers, Fire brigade and rescue services, Uganda Wild Life Authority, Uganda Timber Growers Association, National Forestry Authority and other mapped potential stakeholders to leverage on joint financing in acquiring a fire–helicopter for Uganda. The stakeholders in the Public Private Partnership shall be able to access fire control services at a subsidized and affordable costs. The presence of a fire-act shall also provide a framework on the moderation and effectiveness for the Public Private Partnership but still insurance companies should promote massive sensitization on the commercial tree insurance. I am a proud commercial tree farmer and Climate Finance Expert.
The author, Denis Tukahikaho PhD. is Ag. President, The society for Environment & Climate Finance Professionals and Managing Partner – Climate Hub -International.
denis.tukahikaho@climatehubinternational.com
+256 777 222 732
