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This research paper examines the successful 2006 citizen activism campaign in Uganda to save the Mabira Central Forest Reserve from being donated to the Mehta Group for sugar production. It details how a coalition of civil society, religious, and cultural groups used empirical research, legal challenges, and public mobilization to expose governance deficits and block the government's proposal. The paper highlights the evolution of environmental law in Uganda, the importance of public access to information, and the intersection of environmental conservation with national governance and accountability.

This research paper by Bashir Twesigye analyzes the 2006 citizen-led campaign to prevent the Ugandan government from granting 7,100 hectares of the Mabira Central Forest Reserve to the Mehta Group for sugarcane production. The author examines how environmental activism served as a vehicle for broader governance and accountability demands, leveraging Uganda's 1995 Constitution and the National Environment Act to successfully halt the land transfer.