Northern Uganda’s Fight Against Deforestation: A Community’s Battle for Shea Trees

As Mustapha Gerima approached his home village of Midigo in Uganda’s Yumbe district in 2016, he was shocked. The lush landscapes he once knew had been replaced by barren soils and tree stumps, as the charcoal trade ravaged the land. A biology teacher in Tanzania for nearly two decades, Gerima returned to Uganda seeking medical care, but this homecoming changed the trajectory of his life.

“I have to fight for our beloved shea trees,” says Gerima, now 52. The destruction of shea and Afzelia Africana trees in northern Uganda, prized for their wood density, has accelerated due to rampant commercial charcoal production. From 1990 to 2018, Uganda’s forest cover plummeted from 24% to just 9%, as the trade thrived, supplying nations like Kenya and reaching as far as the Middle East.

Despite a government ban on commercial charcoal production in 2023, illegal logging and smuggling persist under the alleged protection of corrupt officials and military personnel. President Yoweri Museveni’s executive order banning charcoal singled out “security groups and government agencies” complicit in the trade.

Determined to save the shea trees, Gerima launched the Save the Shea Nut Tree Movement and embarked on a 644km protest walk to raise awareness. He distributed tree seedlings, worked with local scouts to expose illegal charcoal dealers, and publicly named army officials and politicians involved in the trade. “This is pure selfishness,” Gerima declares. “We must protect nature for future generations, even if it means exposing criminals in broad daylight.”

Gerima’s activism has come at great personal risk. He has been shot at, his home broken into, and received numerous death threats. Yet, he remains resolute in his mission to protect the land he loves.

The porous Uganda-South Sudan border has complicated efforts to curb illegal charcoal smuggling. South Sudanese forces have carried out cross-border attacks, while traders exploit unclear boundaries to continue their operations. “Fixing the border would help us end this mess,” says Milton Nyeko of Uganda’s National Forestry Authority.

For Gerima, the fight against deforestation and corruption is far from over. “Cutting out the cancer: corruption,” he says, is the only way to save the precious shea trees of northern Uganda.