Museveni welcomes EU ban on coffee linked to deforestration

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has expressed support for the European Union’s regulations aimed at blocking coffee imports from registered farmers and those grown on deforested lands.

Recently, the European parliament approved a landmark deforestation law, banning imports into the European Union of coffee, beef, soy, and other commodities if they are linked to the destruction of the world’s forests. 

This move, set to take effect in 2025, demands verifiable proof that goods weren’t produced on deforested land post-2020 to avoid substantial fines, aimed at combatting climate change.

Speaking about the said regulations, which will also include taking coffee exports from Uganda’s registered coffee farmers, Museveni said this time round for the first time, he will agree with the European Union. Museveni revealed that by coming up with the said regulations, the EU will have helped him in the fight against deforestation.  

According to data from the online forest tracking portal Global Forest Watch, Uganda has seen an increase in deforestation in the last decade. Records released in 2021 show that while in 2001, the country lost 297 km2 of forest, by 2020 the figure had more than doubled (736 km2 of forest lost in a single year).

As such, Museveni says it is criminal to encroach on wetlands for manmade activities. He said they will deal with the encroachers but at the right time but they need to listen.

Museveni explained that when they had just returned from the bush in 1986, they found that people had encroached on the entire Mabira forest but he chased them. He welcomed what he described as good pressure from the European Union. Museveni made the remarks on Friday night while responding to questions during his engagement with the media at State House Entebbe.

At least 60 per cent of Uganda’s coffee exports go to the European market. Museveni answered several questions from journalists including concerns about multiple land titles issued on one land and continued detention of political prisoners without trial.

He said that he would soon issue an executive order chasing soldiers from land matters because they are supposed to be fighting from the bush, not in land matters.  He, however, said that he hadn’t gotten sufficient time to issue that executive order.