Lack of seed and "what's in it for me" thinking deter growing of native trees: a project aims to fix that

On 31 January in Kampala, CIFOR-ICRAF, Botanic Gardens Conservation International and forest company Unique met with senior foresters about a project in the making on “Supplying high-quality tree planting material of native tree species for landscape restoration in Sub-Saharan Africa”

?The project funded by Germany’s International Climate Initiative aims to enable Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burkina Faso to have a sustained supply of native tree seed so that they can meet their forest landscape restoration and tree planting targets. At present native tree seed is lacking - in the diversity, quality and quantity that is needed.

In 2016, Uganda committed to restore 2.5 million hectares by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge and AFR100. It later committed to planting 40 million trees a year. But, as almost everywhere in the world, implementation is proceeding with scant thought of seed. The project comes just in time.

In opening remarks, CIFOR-ICRAF’s Lars Graudal said “Uganda has been extremely successful in commercial forestry. Plantations of exotics have increased tree cover from 9% in 2015 to 13.5% today.” He stressed, however, the need for the country to now attend to its native species too.

“Native species fill critical ecological, social, and economic roles, and because of the destruction of their habitats, it is urgent to get them conserved and into use. This project will use a low input approach where you mobilise the genetic resource, collecting seed from where it is still present and bringing it together in orchards.”

“Uganda has 854 indigenous tree species of which 55 are threatened,” said project co-lead Ramni Jamnadass. “Through species prioritization with stakeholders, we expect to arrive at a list of about 120. From these will emerge what we call Climate Appropriate Portfolios of Tree Diversity of 10-20 trees per functional use and agro-ecological region.”

?The tree geneticist explained that “we need both genetic diversity and the right species for the future climate”. CIFOR-ICRAF research shows that alterations in environmental conditions caused by climate change will affect where tree species can grow, a sobering fact that needs to be considered so that the right species are chosen.

?The project will also re-tool Uganda’s National Tree Seed Centre. Besides consigning restoration to planting largely exotic species, lack of native tree seed is a major bottleneck for countries seeking to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions, Land Degradation Neutrality targets, Sustainable Development Goals, and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.

The 25 strong gathering welcomed the project. Moreen Uwimbabazi of Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization said “we have institutes all over the country with safe and maintained land where we can have orchards.”

?Dennis Kavuma, general manager of Uganda Timber Growers Association, which unites 700 tree planters, said, “This project brings to the fore what we have been telling our growers about native trees. We are commercial people with business minds but we are also cognizant of their environmental and social benefits.”

Musa Mutegeki of Toro Botanical Garden said that the greatest loss of tree cover was from forest on private land and that there were approaches to make growing native tree species “very attractive to them”. Planting along highways was also an option.

?Martin Asiimwe, who runs World Bank project Investing in Forests and Protected Areas for Climate Smart Development in the Ministry of Water and Environment, said “Native species suit the spiritual nature of churches, and dioceses have big land. If the project can establish a foothold in places of prayer and institutions like kingdoms, followers will adopt growing of native species.”

The group gave repeated feedback, however, that promoting indigenous species is non-trivial and needs a concerted campaign.

Issa Katwesigwe, Acting Assistant Commissioner for Planning and Development in the Forestry Sector Support Department, said “it all comes down to human nature. People are motivated by what’s in it for them. One constant thought is - ‘how do I earn from that tree?’ How do we interest people in native trees with long rotations?”

Paul Jacovelli from project partner Unique, who ran Uganda’s highly successful Sawlog Production Grant Scheme, said “we have to look at the business angle, understand the demand. What we hear is ‘On the ground farmers want eucalyptus and pine’. The core of our focus will be where are the trees going to be planted, over how long, and what species.”

Joseph Ochwo of the National Tree Seed Center said there was “need for sensitisation. Our seed sources are insecure. There is a high chance that if we identify an important germplasm source, we lose it. In Karamoja, we marked trees of Acacia senegal. The community thought we had hidden intentions and cut them down. I hope the designers of this project took that into consideration”.

And Andrew Williams of the US Forest Service called for focus. “Each agroecosystem needs a selection of the right trees driven by the needs of farmers and landholders. It is quite conceivable that the diversity of species chosen by them will be a relatively small proportion of the overall diversity of tree species native to Uganda.”?

?Wrapping up, Graudal said “We will make performance-based contracts with landholders to establish native seed orchards that can provide quality seed that they can sell.”

?Ramni Jamnadass reiterated one of the project’s most important pillars. “Breeding seed orchards can contribute to the restoration agenda.”

?Launching in the other African nations, the project will create a Pan-African tree seed platform. CIFOR-ICRAF welcomes partners as it rolls out.