MAINSTREAMING SUSTAINABLE NATURAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INTO UGANDA’S COVID-19 RECOVERY PACKAGES

This report by the Green Economy Coalition and the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) analyzes the extent to which Uganda's COVID-19 recovery packages—specifically the national budgets for FY 2020/21 and 2021/22—integrate sustainable natural capital management. The study finds a decline in natural capital responsiveness between the two budget years and recommends that all recovery measures undergo natural capital implication assessments to ensure a holistic recovery.

• Uganda's natural capital is in a state of decline, with forest coverage dropping from 24 percent in 1990 to 12 percent by 2020, and wetland coverage falling from 15.5 percent to 8.9 percent over the same period.
• The national budget for the financial year 2020/21 (USD 12.15 billion) was 40 percent (USD 4.8 billion) responsive to natural capital management. Within this responsive portion, 70 percent were categorized as 'strongly positive', 15 percent as 'weak positive', and 15 percent as 'strong negative'.
• The 2021/22 national budget (USD 12.1 billion) showed a decline in natural capital responsiveness to 28 percent (USD 3.36 billion). This decrease is attributed to a reduction in allocations for the Natural Resources and Environment Programme, which fell from 3.7 percent (USD 444 million) in 2020/21 to 2 percent (USD 240 million) in 2021/22.
• COVID-19 lockdowns in Uganda led to temporary environmental gains, including a 41 percent reduction in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations and an 83.9 percent reduction in Particulate Matter (PM2.5) concentrations in Kampala.
• Certain government policies actively undermine natural capital conservation, such as the 2011 National Physical Planning Guidelines, which allow gazetted protected areas to be converted into infrastructure corridors, and the leasing of 5,570 hectares of Bugoma Forest Reserve to Hoima Sugar Limited for sugarcane plantations.
• Uganda has developed five natural capital accounts (Forests, Wetlands, Fisheries, Water, and Tourism) to shift economic progress measurement from GDP to a more holistic approach that captures the impact of development on the natural capital base.
• The government capitalized the Uganda Development Bank Limited (UDBL) with USD 281.7 million as part of the recovery package. Of the USD 128.2 million disbursed by August 2020, the largest allocations went to Primary Agriculture (34%) and Agro-Industrialization (30%).
• The report identifies a critical link between natural capital and monetary policy, noting that environmental degradation drives up food production costs, which in turn triggers inflation, as Uganda's inflation is largely driven by food prices.

APA

Green Economy Coalition (n.d.). MAINSTREAMING SUSTAINABLE NATURAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INTO UGANDA’S COVID-19 RECOVERY PACKAGES. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GR-Country-reports/GR-Uganda-GEC-PRS105.pdf

Chicago

Green Economy Coalition. MAINSTREAMING SUSTAINABLE NATURAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INTO UGANDA’S COVID-19 RECOVERY PACKAGES. n.d. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GR-Country-reports/GR-Uganda-GEC-PRS105.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Economy Coalition |title=MAINSTREAMING SUSTAINABLE NATURAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INTO UGANDA’S COVID-19 RECOVERY PACKAGES |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GR-Country-reports/GR-Uganda-GEC-PRS105.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greeneconomycoalitionndmainstreaming, author = {{Green Economy Coalition}}, title = {{MAINSTREAMING SUSTAINABLE NATURAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INTO UGANDA’S COVID-19 RECOVERY PACKAGES}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GR-Country-reports/GR-Uganda-GEC-PRS105.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }