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October 25, 2018By George Mangula
Uganda has an opportunity to grow economically stronger and improve its policy making, for long-term sustainable growth and prosperity by taking into account the value of existing stock of natural assets, such as forests, wetlands and land
This was the key message yesterday from the joint launch of the Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Program in Uganda led by the World Bank in partnership with the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, with financial support from the Global Partnership for Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES), hosted by the World Bank.
Currently, close to one third of wealth in low income countries like Uganda comes from natural capital, according to the “Changing Wealth of Nations: Building a Sustainable Future” Report published by the World Bank in 2018, which assesses the performance of 141 countries in building wealth.
The Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, Keith Muhakanizi, who officiated at the launch held at the ministry’s headquarters in Kampala, welcomed the WAVES program which aims to support government in its ongoing efforts to quantify the value of its natural capital as a measure and indicator of future growth and progress.
“Government recognizes the importance of building statistical systems that support better management of our natural resources. The future of growth of Uganda will depend on sound management of our natural capital and we need to establish a credible set of natural accounts if we are to do that,” he said.
Several government ministries, departments and agencies as well as think tanks, NGOs and academia – most them present at the launch – are engaged in producing data as part of their day-to-day work programmes, but Muhakanizi said this needs to be harmonized and integrated more systematically into national development planning processes, including the process of preparing the Third National Development Plan.
He added: “Such a system will be of immense value to the country and will help us to produce more credible natural capital accounts and analyze results to inform policy planning and implementation”.
