Uganda’s shea nuts trees are threatened while charcoal preferred instead of beauty creams

A former biology teacher who is the turnover environmentalist is on a crusade in Uganda to save the once flurling trees from which shea butter is made cosmetically known as “ladies gold”.

Mustafa Gerima wants local communities to stop chopping the trees to make charcoal – which they say it is more profitable than the oil, also used in cooking, which is removed from its fruit.

He gave up the education to devote himself to the trees when he returned home six years ago and was shocked when he found Mount Kei Central Forest Reserve, once lush with wild shea trees, had turned into an almost bars of vastness littered with stumps.

Now nicknamed “Bwana Shea” or Mr. Shea, he walks from village to village in the northwest of the country to collect people to protect what he sees as a disappearing treasure.

Local people, he said, had lost interest in the trees and started chopping while farmers experienced failed harvests.

“Thirty years ago the Shea Nut Tree had a pattern of production. It flourished in December and then by the time it reached April, it would be ready,” Mr. Gerima told the BBC.

“But now there is this long -term drought due to climate change. That is why it influences the production of shea ututs.”

The growing popularity of charcoal of the Shea Nut Tree has made the situation worse. It is said that it will burn longer Then other charcoal.

“Our community is struck by poverty. So they consider the tree to be a cheap alternative source of income,” said Gerima.

Uganda loses an estimated 100,000 hectares (250,000 hectares) forest covering every year, and a considerable part of it includes Shea Nut trees, according to the Ministry of the Environment of the country.

Shea trees grow in the wild from West to East Africa -a vast strip known as the “shea belt”. But the Shea Tree population has plummeted dramatically in the past year, says it.

This loss, combined with the bad harvests, has had a direct impact on people such as Mariam Chandiru, a local shea butter producer in the northern city of Koboko for many years.

“We would get good money to bring our children to school and to take care of our families. But now my company is collapsing, it’s a huge setback,” she told the BBC.

“I used to sold up to five Jerry tins shea oil per week, at the moment I can only fill a maximum of two Jerry cans.”

Traditionally, they are women who have collected the notes of the shea tree to produce Nilotica -Sea -butter, worldwide appreciated for his cosmetic and culinary use.

Professor John Bosco Okullo, a leading expert in Abroforestry of the Makerere University of Uganda, who has been studying Shea Noten trees for more than two decades, also blames the years of widespread uncertainty for the problems.

“In the nineties, communities owned the shea trees,” said the academic, who is part of a project from the European Union that retains and uses, at the BBC.

This was before a large part of the north of the country was destroyed by a rebel group called The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Led by Joseph KonyWhose hunters were notorious because they kidnapped children – the boys forcing to become hunters and keep the girls as sex slaves.

The rebels have largely been wiped out, but for almost 20 years of conflict, people drove to leave their villages and find safety in Kampen.

Other communities were affected by dangerous livestock attacks – which also led to the relocation of thousands of people in the early 2000s.

“After the invading of cattle and civil unrest by the displaced people of the Lord, the feeling of property was lost,” said Prof.

“When people returned, they adapted to short -term profits such as the burning of charcoal.”

Prof Okullo agrees with Mr. Gerima that climate change has further worsened the situation.

“Productivity has fallen. The trees do not flower and fruits the way they used to be. Rain fluctuation has disturbed the natural cycles of the shea tree,” he said.

Fast urban expansion is another threat.

“Most of these places that used to have Shea trees now have new districts, new hospitals, schools,” said Prof Okullo.

“You think that the shea trees are cut for development. We need confirming planting. Otherwise, when we wait for natural regeneration, it will be difficult.”

Despite what a gloomy view seems, Prof Okullo takes heart from campaigners such as Mr. Gerima.

The most famous initiative of the former teacher included a 19-day, 644 km (400 miles) walk in 2020.

He went from the capital of Uganda, Kampala, to the headquarters of the Environmental Program of the United Nations (UNEP) in Nairobi, capital of neighboring Kenya.

“At the moment there are many NGOs that mobilize communities,” said Prof Okullo.

“People plant new trees and protect those who regenerate against stumps.

“Some even use grafting techniques to shorten the youth phase – it took 15 to 20 years before fruits, now some trees are much more fruits.”

To meet the rising demand and to support sustainable supply chains, the Professor and his colleagues embrace technology.

“We work together with our colleagues in computer science and physics to use artificial intelligence, so that we can map the adult shea trees and try to project the proceeds,” he said.

The Ugandan government has also recognized the vulnerability of the Shea Nut Tree. In 2023, cutting trees for charcoal made illegal.

But enforcement has been fragmentary.

“There was a presidential order to stop cutting shea trees, but it was hard to implement,” said Prof Okullo.

“The demand for charcoal is highest in urban areas. Those who cut the trees are not those who use the charcoal. We must offer alternative energy sources to cities to reduce demand.”

It remains a personal problem for Mr Gerima.

“Seeing people cutting the tree has always caused me a lot of pain in my heart,” he said.

He continues his long walks to increase consciousness, to speak with local councils, to organize vegetable drives.

“This should not be the problem of one man – it must provide a joint effort, a collective responsibility.”

His next steps include launching a basic initiative for monitoring the base and collaborating with schools to integrate conservation into the local curriculum.

He says that his mission is not alone to save a tree, but to maintain a way of life.

“We have to think about our future generations. If they come and only find stumps, what will they think of us?”