The major purpose of this policy briefing paper is to present findings and recommendations of the comparative study on benefit sharing in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. In Uganda, it is apparent that although there is some benefit sharing taking place between the forest mandated agencies and forest adjacent communities; the contribution of the benefit-sharing arrangements towards sustainable forest management and community livelihoods is very minimal. The effectiveness of the benefit sharing arrangements is affected by a number of challenges, including lack of a comprehensive natural resources cost and benefit-sharing policy; weak community institutions; weak linkages of government institutional framework with other stakeholders; limited community participation in decision-making, and overloading forest adjacent communities with forest management responsibilities without corresponding support and benefits. These and other challenges have combined to make benefit sharing processes in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania ineffective. The lessons for Uganda from Tanzania and Kenya have been given. Additional to these lessons, the following recommendations are important for improving benefit-sharing arrangements in Uganda to ensure that they significantly contribute to sustainable forest management and community livelihoods.
