Every 5 Acres

Purchase of land for reforestation and carbon sequestration

The project “Every 5 Acres” started in March 2020, with the initial purchase of five acres of land, which inspired the name of the project.

What are the objectives?

The idea is to purchase private land, with an initial target of 100 acres, to regenerate a natural forest as a buffer zone of Bugoma Forest. This will serve as a new habitat for chimpanzees and other monkeys, especially in consideration of the high threat of deforestation in the reserve, which explains the urgency of this project. Secondly, this intends to serve as a climate action project through carbon sequestration where donors can invest in «carbon credits».

The area of the project

We identified an area of 100 acres, owned by farmers located in Kimbugo Parish, Kabwoya sub county, Buhaguzi County, Kikuube District, in the Eastern side of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve. This land is an environmentally sensitive area of buffer zone and a former wildlife migratory corridor for bush elephants, where chimpanzees and Ugandan mangabeys nests are commonly found, area which was much affected by deforestation in recent years. Therefore, the project has a direct impact on restoring the habitat for endangered species and it is connected to Bugoma Forest reserve as it follows its boundaries.

Land use under the project

The land use is afforestation through planting of indigenous tree species, natural regeneration of forest cover by proximity to the natural forest and other conservation activities. Some communal uses of the land by local residents are allowed, such as collection of fire wood, cleaning activities, collection of medicinal herbs and other sustainable activities which do not interfere with the conservation of the forest and its wildlife.

How does the project work?

Every piece of land is privately purchased by the Association for Conservation of Bugoma Forest (ACBF) from local farmers, according to one of the various options set forth by the laws of Uganda. In other words, the land will be purchased as a Lease Hold or Free Hold.
ACBF purchases the land and provides the management of the tree planting in all the areas of the project. The Association will monitor the growing of the trees and will provide further information on carbon sequestration in the project.
We estimate that every acre of acquired land will require on the average 1200 tree seedling, which have to be planted and maintained over the years. ACBF provides the work sourcing from people in the local area.

Costs of the project

Based on the commercial value of the land on site, we estimate that each acre of land has a cost of USD 1.900. The cost for planting the trees for reforestation is estimated at USD 1000 per acre. The overall cost of Every 5 Acres project is USD 290.000 based on 100 acres.
Since now the project has achieved the initial steps of 9 acres of land under reforestation and 91 acres are still in plan.

Donation to Every 5 Acres

We request all partners to contribute a share of the costs of this project.
Donors are funding this project through donations to ACBF. In exchange ACBF provides a Certificate of contribution to the project and, if applies, a Memorandum of Understanding stipulating the terms of collaboration between ACBF and the Donor.

In 2024 the following sponsors have contributed to this project:

How to donate

Donate online through GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-give-habitat-to-the-chimpanzees

Donate by bank transfer:
Name of account: Association for Conservation of Bugoma Forest
Account Number: 51585702020501 (USD)
Bank Name and Address: I & M Bank (Uganda) Limited
Plot 6/6A Kampala Road
PO Box 3072 Kampala
Swift code: ORINUGKA

Conclusion

This project contributes to offset carbon emissions, helps fighting climate change, gives a new home to chimpanzees and Ugandan mangabeys, helps conserving biodiversity and the protection of Bugoma Forest habitat.

Watch our video presentation which we made at the site of the first purchase of land.