The project has led to deforestation of the Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, which is a gazetted forest containing wetlands, which are both protected under Ugandan law.
Deforestation occurring in the Bugoma Central Forest Reserve threatens the habitats of nearly 600 endangered chimpanzees .
The project has resulted in deforestation within the Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, which is 41,144 hectares of protected area and a primary forest.
Local Ugandan groups have sued Hoima Sugar and the National Environment Management Authority for approving the project without conducting any public consultation, let alone based on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).
Hoima Sugar Limited’s Kyangwali Mixed Land Use Project, which involves a sugar plantation in Uganda’s Bugoma Forest, has severely threatened the well-being and livelihoods of local communities. The project has resulted in the deforestation of natural, reserved forest, and violated several Ugandan laws. Local communities and civil society groups have fought against the project since its inception.
Hoima Sugar Limited is owned by the Sarrai Group, a conglomerate of agro-manufacturing companies with a strong presence in Uganda’s sugar industry. NCBA Bank Uganda was found to have provided asset financing to Hoima Sugar in 2021. The Bank posted on Twitter, announcing it had supplied 9 Mahindra trucks to the company.
Since Hoima Sugar’s opening in 2016, there have been ongoing disputes about leasing land in the Bugoma Forest for sugarcane growing. Yet, in August 2020, Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) approved Hoima Sugar’s project. This approval included a sugarcane plantation, eco-tourism center, and urban center. NEMA also recommended the preservation of certain areas for a cultural site and as a natural reserved forest.
Hoima Sugar’s activities are resulting in a multitude of negative social, environmental, and biodiversity impacts. For one, Hoima Sugar is driving community impoverishment. As the forest diminishes, so do forest-dependent jobs. For instance, NEMA found that deforestation in the project area “has affected the quality of the site for eco-tourism purposes”, which could negatively impact jobs in the tourism sector. The loss of local employment has not been rectified by new jobs at the sugar plantation, considering Hoima Sugar has either employed migrant laborers or, for local communities, established exploitative contract farming schemes. Deforestation, along with the influx of migrant workers to Hoima Sugar’s project site, could also cause a strain on local communities’ customary forest resources, including foods, medicinal plants, materials for making furniture, and fuelwood. Local water sources are becoming unpotable, as sugar wastewater containing agrochemicals from Hoima Sugar’s plantation is being dumped into surrounding streams. Water shortages and pollution could threaten the livelihoods and health of communities reliant on nearby rivers and lakes. Further, Hoima Sugar’s 2020 Environment and Social Impact Statement (ESIS) identified that sugarcane growing will risk destroying ancestral burial grounds and the “loss of cultural values associated with several cultural sites”, which are sacred to local communities.
Regarding the project’s environmental impacts, deforestation resulting from Hoima Sugar’s activities threatens nearly 600 endangered chimpanzees and the endemic Ugandan mangabey, for which the Bugoma Central Forest is a sanctuary. Deforestation in the Bugoma Forest could also pose harm to the bush elephants, butterflies, and 225 bird species inhabiting this area. Covering over 154 sq miles,Bugoma Forest is an incredibly valuable carbon sink, meaning it has a large capacity for absorbing carbon dioxide (Co2) emissions, which is vital in tackling climate change. However, sugarcane production contributes to climate change due to the greenhouse gases that are emitted from the conversion of forests, grasslands or other carbon ‘sinks’ into cropland, as well as the use of chemical fertilizers.
Numerous legal issues have compounded the project’s social and environmental impacts. In 2020, local residents and organizations involved in the Save Bugoma Forest campaign sued Hoima Sugar for an inadequate Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. Further, in September 2022, NEMA discovered that the project led to deforestation of natural reserved forest, which was meant to be protected. This meant that Hoima Sugar breached the condition 4.3(I)(C) of the project’s approval, which was granted under the 2019 National Environment Act. As a result, NEMA ordered Hoima Sugar to restore the degraded areas in Bugoma forest. The sugar company was tasked to prepare a restoration plan for the degraded areas within three months from the date of the order. However, to date, the degraded areas have yet to be restored.
