Why Is FSC Certifying Land Disputes and Human Rights Abuses at Mount Elgon?
How many more people will be killed at Mount Elgon before FSC realises that the national park should not be FSC-certified? By Chris Lang. Published in WRM Bulletin 127, February 2008. Mount Elgon has seen major land disputes since it was declared a National Park in 1993. Villagers were evicted from the park in 1993 and again in 2002. The area surrounding the park has a high population density and farmers have little choice other than to keep going back into to the park to plant their crops. Violence has flared between the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA), the agency responsible for managing the park, and villagers trying to make a living. Villagers say that UWA officials have threatened them, shot at them and sexually abused them. Several people have been killed.[1] The situation is further complicated by a carbon offset tree planting scheme run by the Dutch FACE Foundation together with UWA. The FACE Foundation has been planting trees around the boundary of Mount Elgon since 1994. The
