Activists across east Africa have been celebrating after Uganda’s government dropped plans last week to carve off nearly a third of a protected rainforest to grow sugar cane.

Mabira Forest, which lies between the capital Kampala and the Source of the Nile at Jinja, is home to species including rare monkeys, birds and butterflies, and a medicinal shrub used to treat malaria. It’s also a popular tourist attraction with walking trails and bicycle paths.

The proposal to slash 7,100 hectares (17,540 acres) for a sugar company triggered violent protests in April that killed three people.

From central Africa to the Amazon basin and Indonesia’s islands, experts say the world’s great forests are being lost at a rate of at least 13 million hectares (32 million acres) a year — an area the size of Greece or Nicaragua.

Trees suck up carbon dioxide, so that adds to global warming, they say. Africa, the continent least prepared to cope with climate change, is expected to be hit hardest.

Ugandan newspapers have been full of letters praising the authorities for saving Mabira. But the country’s leader, President Yoweri Museveni, maintains that poor nations must boost their economies first, before they can afford to protect their environment.

Uganda’s water and environment minister, Maria Mutagamba, said it was a “happy ending” to the story.

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