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

The report finds that while Uganda's medium-term planning (NDPIII) is responsive to natural capital, actual budgetary allocations have declined, with only 28% of the 2021/22 recovery budget supporting natural capital management compared to 40% in 2020/21. It highlights significant degradation of forests and wetlands and warns that industrialization goals may further threaten biodiversity without dedicated monitoring and offset plans.

• 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 in the same period.
• The national budget for the financial year 2020/21 (USD 12.15 billion) was 40 percent responsive to natural capital management; of these interventions, 70 percent were strongly positive, 15 percent weak positive, and 15 percent strong negative.
• Responsiveness to natural capital declined in the 2021/22 national budget (USD 12.1 billion), where only 28 percent (USD 3.36 billion) of interventions were responsive. This decline is linked to a reduction in allocations for the Natural Resources, Environment, Climate Change, Water and Land Management Programme from 3.7 percent (USD 444 million) in 2020/21 to 2 percent (USD 240 million) in 2021/22.
• COVID-19 lockdowns provided temporary environmental benefits, 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, such as the leasing of 5,570 hectares of Bugoma Forest Reserve to Hoima Sugar Limited for sugarcane plantations and the encroachment on Lwera Swamp by Zhong Industries LTD for rice fields.
• The 2021/22 budget's focus on industrialization and petroleum development lacks necessary resources for monitoring environmental compliance, which the report describes as 'perilous' given the activities occur in fragile biodiversity hotspots.
• Uganda has developed five natural capital accounts (Forests, Wetlands, Fisheries, Water, and Tourism) to shift from GDP-based economic measurement to a 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; while specific natural capital data is scarce, UDBL is a Sustainability Certified Institution with goals to reduce poverty while protecting the environment.

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} }