Indigenous technical knowledge and forest management: A case study of sacred groves (Traditional Forest Reserves), Mpigi District, Uganda

The high rate of deforestation and degradation of the environment in Uganda are dangerous obstacles to sustainable management of forests and trees in the country and therefore require urgent and consolidated effort of all concerned to address them. So a research study of indigenous knowledge and how such knowledge can be used to conserve the environment is an effort in the right direction. Indigenous knowledge was studied using the Traditional Forest Reserves (TFRs) in Mpigi District, Central Uganda. TFRs are very small forests in size as compared to the government forest reserves. They are governed by non-modern knowledge vis-a-vis modern, scientific knowledge used in management of government forest reserves. Historically, non-modern knowledge has been repressed and unrecognized despite its frequent successes in conserving natural resources. For example, indigenous knowledge can be crucial in community forestry development programs because it involves systems of institutions developed through generation, of self-management that can govern resource use. Several community forestry projects have failed because implementors have not understood the social aspects of such local institutions. As a result they have instead built new institutions that have replaced or undermined the indigenous ones. With the current rate of deforestation in Uganda, a consolidated joint effort of both systems of knowledge (non-modern and modern) for forest/tree resource use and management is essential. However, it is not the purpose of this study to define the best way of integrating indigenous knowledge into scientific knowledge and vice-versa. A total of thirteen TFRs were covered by the study, of which six (6) were not under immediate threat of deforestation, four (4) were under immediate threat, and three (3) were completely deforested. The TFRs are facing increased threat of deforestation for a number of reasons, the most important one being the replacement of non-modern institutions by modem ones. Probably, the challenge for natural resource managers of today might be the interface between local institutions and the formal state institutions.