From counting trees to enhancing climate resiliency, Kampala focuses on its forests

KAMPALA — Ten years ago, Uganda’s capital Kampala was facing a strange problem: trees were falling over on the city’s streets, injuring people and damaging cars and property. The municipality investigated, and found that the problem was mainly caused by aging and unhealthy trees. What followed was an initiative by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) that not only solved the immediate problem of falling trees, but also led to long-term improvements in the city’s green infrastructure and its climate resilience. In 2016, the KCCA launched a two-year citywide tree audit, in which 10 foresters and two statisticians counted and assessed every tree in four of the city’s central districts: Kololo, Nakasero, Mulago and Makerere. “There was no baseline data — we didn’t know what we have and wh