In response to severe forest degradation and deforestation, the government of Uganda in 1998 classified forests into two: local and central forest reserves. The former was decentralized to local governments, while the latter would be managed by a semi-autonomous body, the National Forestry Authority (NFA). Since 1898, the management of Uganda’s forest estate had been under the Forest Department. In April 2004, the Forest Department was divested into an autonomous National Forestry Authority (NFA) to manage the Central Forest Reserves, while a small estate called Local Forest Reserves were placed under the District Forestry Services of local governments.
Relying on Uganda’s Forestry policy of 2001, the NFA, a semi-autonomous body, is mandated to; “Manage Central Forest Reserves on a sustainable basis and to supply high quality forestry-related products and services to government, local communities and the private sector” The NFA has a mandate of managing 506 Central Forest Reserves (CFR’s) totaling to 1,262,090 ha of the land cover, with objectives of improving their management, expanding partnership arrangements, supplying forest and non-forest products and services and ensuring organizational stability.