For Uganda REDD+ to respond to the development ambitions as laid down in Uganda’s Vision 2040, the National Development Plan (NDP II) and its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC, and its draft National REDD+ Strategy, it will need a nation-wide approach to REDD+ benefit sharing. Uganda’s vision statement “A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years” demands for transformational change in the rural
sector. Uganda’s REDD+ Strategic Options report suggests “Ugandan society cannot anymore count on the traditional ways of doing farming, cut natural forests or wastefully
exploit wood for energy. New, more efficient alternatives for each of those traditional livelihood modes must be developed and taken into use.”

In Uganda, REDD+ is part of the national response to climate change. REDD+ in Uganda focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, enhancing the role of trees and forests in sustainable (green) development, increasing forest cover i.e. enhancing carbon stocks in forests. REDD+ is part of a bigger allencompassing climate resilience initiative including both adaptation and mitigation. This all-encompassing approach can contribute meaningfully to the transformation
proposed by Uganda’s Vision 2040.