A plan to replace a large swathe of protected rainforest in Uganda with sugarcane could lead to further civil unrest in a year when nine people have been killed during strikes and protests against the rising cost of living....At least three people died during a protest in 2007 against a similar plan to allocate part of Mabira to SCOUL [Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited, joint venture Mehta Group & Govt. of Uganda] Politicians opposed to the scheme worry about a repeat of alleged abuses by security forces during protests in April and May 2011, which, according to Human Right Watch, included killings, beatings, and abusive and arbitrary arrest of protesters and uninvolved bystanders..."The forests protect micro-climates and because we have degraded our environment, we are witnessing landslides every year now," said Frank Muramuzi, executive director of the National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE)... "Giving out Mabira will be counter-productive because it will even affect the rainfall."