Customs staff deployed under Enforcement and Field Services recently participated in a technical backstopping on wooden products training. Backstopping involves providing technical support and expertise to project teams, acting as a safety net to address unforeseen challenges and enhance project implementation.
It is a proactive approach that aims to troubleshoot issues, offer guidance, and ensure that projects stay on course.
On June 21st, 2023 President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni issued an executive order banning the unsustainable harvesting of trees for timber and veneer exports and further guided that only factories processing timber within Uganda for the production of plywood, furniture, and other value-added products should be allowed to operate, but with sustainable tree planting and harvesting plans.
“Following the Presidential directive, we did what we could to enforce it as Uganda Revenue Authority however we quickly realized that there are skilling gaps among our staff who offered various disciplines and this training seeks to address that challenge, “Fiona Nyamurungi Tubeine, the Acting Assistant Commissioner Field Services stated.
Tubeine who was delivering opening remarks added that the training which is facilitated by officials from the Ministry of Water and Environment also offers an opportunity for the regulatory bodies to learn each other’s processes and points of convergence to facilitate legitimate trade.
“All of us here are His Excellency’s foot soldiers and we interpret his strategies technically and responsibly; we gave stakeholders three months before enforcing the ban but we also need to educate them on what they should do so that we do not lose them to the neighbouring countries,” Cleopus Ndorere, the Commissioner External Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives noted.
According to Bob Kazungu, the Assistant Commissioner of Forestry under the Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda faced a rapid decline in forest cover from 24% to 9% between 1990-2015, however from 2017, there was a gradual gain in the tree cover to 13.3% due to the high desire to grow eucalyptus and pine Indigenous tree species.
Nonetheless, timber consumption in Uganda has increased from 350,000 CBM in 2012 to 700,000 CBM in 2020 with most of it being illegal; over 80% of timber traded is illegal and the illegalities are largely due to weak governance.
“The illegal consumption of timber has doubled because our structures in the government are weak therefore we look to URA to be concerned about what goes out; we also depend on you to enforce the Customs laws in the East African Community Customs Management Act (EACCMA) and the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora (CITIS) regulations,” Kazungu stated.
Notably, the National Forestry policy is currently under review and strengthens trade aspects including a policy statement on forest industries.
Source:https://ura.go.ug/en/ura-staff-trained-on-the-treatment-of-wood-products-for-trade-purposes/