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.

Objectives

The idea is to purchase private land, with an initial target of 100 acres, where to regenerate a permanent natural forest as a buffer zone of the endangered Bugoma Forest. This will generate a new private reserve of biodiversity.

The project land will serve as a new habitat for the endangered chimpanzees and other monkeys, especially in consideration of the high threat of deforestation of Bugoma Forest reserve, which explains the urgency of the intervention. Between 2020 and 2023 Bugoma Forest lost about 7,000 hectares of tropical forest while the population of chimpanzees decreased from average 570 to less than 340.

Furthermore, the project provides the possibility to invest in compensation of carbon emissions.

Global warming and climate change

Tourism contributes 10% of global emissions and there are no offsetting obligations. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) indicates that the most effective action to reduce the effects of climate change is to reforest. Every 5 Acres is a response to this challenge.

Investing in reforestation in Uganda with our project in Bugoma Forest is the best action that tour operators and travel agents can do to help the climate stabilization and to offset / compensate the carbon emissions that the sales of tourist packages cause, which contributes to global warming.

Tour operators and travel agents are invited to invest in offsetting their carbon emissions with Every 5 Acres. At the same time, the project provides more than that: we permanently create a new forest reserve of biodiversity. The costs of realizing this project are bigger than the costs of only offsetting emissions. We call upon the tour operators to help achieving this objective.

The area of the project Every 5 Acres was once a tropical forest, which was deforested for agricultural purpose. Our action of reforesting is an act of “rebalancing” the carbon cycle between carbon sequestration and emission of oxygen in the atmosphere. For this reason, we don’t sell carbon credits, but we offer the same service of carbon sequestration by planting trees.

A tourist traveling from Milan to Entebbe emits 2,000 tons of CO2 that require the planting of 88 trees for compensation. Each acre of Every 5 Acres Project can offset 5 tons of CO2 per acre considering trees of at least 10 years of life with a density of about 400 plants. Considering the goal of 100 acres that we would like to reach, the entire Project when completed involves the planting of about 40,000 trees and a CO2 compensation of 500 tons per year. More information on this topic: https://acbf.phoresta.org/

The project Every 5 Acres in details

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 and near Bugoma Jungle Lodge.

This land is an environmentally sensitive area of buffer zone and was a wildlife migratory corridor for bush elephants, where chimpanzees and Uganda 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 directly connected to Bugoma Forest reserve as it follows its boundaries.

Land use under the project

The land under the project is acquired by ACBF in perpetuity and its use is afforestation through planting of indigenous tree species, natural regeneration of forest cover by proximity to the natural forest and other conservation activities. The idea is to re-generate a permanent forest as a private forest reserve.

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, including eco-tourism.

How does the project work?

Every piece of land is privately purchasedby the Association for Conservation of Bugoma Forest (ACBF) from local farmers as a Lease Hold or Free Hold.

ACBF purchases the land and provides the management of the tree planting and maintenance in all the areas of the project. The Association will monitor the growing of the trees and will provide further information on carbon sequestration by the project.

We estimate that every acre of acquired land will require on the average 800 tree seedling, which have to be planted and maintained over the years. ACBF provides the maintenance work sourcing from people in the local area. The work includes tagging and measuring the trees, recording them and provide updates on their growth.

In 2023 only were planted 1,260 trees.

Every 5 Acres and Eco-Tourism

Tourists visiting Bugoma Forest Reserve and Bugoma Jungle Lodge are invited to see the Every 5 Acres area under reforestation and to “plant a tree” as a symbolic initiative of participation in the reforestation. The trees to be planted are provided by the project, free of charge for the tourists.

Costs of the project

The project is only supported by donors. Tour operators concerned about their sustainability and offsetting their emissions while sending tourists to Uganda, have invested in Every 5 Acres which made possible to move the first steps.

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 for the first year of any acquired acre.

In 2024 the project has achieved the initial steps of purchasing 13 acres of land under reforestation while 87 acres are still in plan.

Destination Jungle and other sponsors of Every 5 Acres

Destination Jungle is one of the sponsors of Every 5 Acres. The tour packages offered on ground by Destination Jungle take into consideration the carbon neutrality policy, whereby the carbon emissions are calculated and at the end of the year a contribution is given to ACBF to offset the emissions in terms of supporting Every 5 Acres.

In the year 2024 we had three main sponsors of Every 5 Acres, tour operators in Italy and in Germany. Thanks to the donations, more land was acquired:

Invest in Every 5 Acres

These are the OPTIONS of how you can invest in the project Every 5 Acres.

With 1500 Euros / USD per year you can: help purchase half an acre of land; help purchase 400 trees; contribute to the costs of the project, i.e. maintenance and general equipment costs.

With 1000 Euros / USD per year you can: help purchase half an acre of land.

With 30 Euros / USD per traveler you can: contribute to the offsetting of carbon emissions from international travel, i.e. plant approximately 80 trees and maintain them. We suggest to apply this fee to each person booking a tour in Uganda.

Modes of payment

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

Donate online through the website of ACBF by PayPal link

https://bugomaconservation.org

Donate online through GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-give-habitat-to-the-chimpanzees

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