What an Assessment Covers
- Habitat mapping — what habitat types are present, where, and in what condition, mapped and geolocated.
- Vegetation survey — systematic plots recording species, structure, cover and regeneration.
- Species of interest — identification of protected, threatened, endemic or otherwise significant species where present.
- Condition and threats — grazing, fire, encroachment, invasive species, hydrological change.
- Land-cover history — satellite reconstruction of what the site was and when it changed.
- Indicator design — a short list of things that can be measured repeatably over time.
- Monitoring protocol — written so a different team can follow it in five years and get comparable numbers.
One Survey, Four Uses
| Requirement | What it needs from the assessment |
|---|---|
| ESIA baseline | Pre-project condition, species of interest, sensitive habitats |
| ESG reporting | Biodiversity indicators, land-cover evidence, no-deforestation support |
| Carbon projects | Land eligibility, baseline condition, safeguards evidence |
| Conservation projects | The starting point against which any change is measured |
Scope these together. Clients routinely commission three overlapping surveys for three requirements because nobody joined them up. One properly designed assessment usually serves all four.
What Makes a Baseline Repeatable
Four things, all of which are usually missing
- Geolocated plots. Coordinates recorded so the same plots can be found again. Without this, later surveys measure a different place.
- A written protocol. Plot size, layout method, what was recorded and how. Detailed enough for a different team to follow.
- Raw data retained, not just the summary. Summaries cannot be re-analysed.
- Dated photographs from fixed points, which are underrated and extremely persuasive over time.
An Honest Note on Scope
We are foresters and environmental scientists. We do vegetation, habitat, land-cover and condition assessment to a professional standard. For specialist faunal work — detailed ornithology, herpetology, entomology, bat surveys — the right answer is a specialist, and we will say so and help you scope it rather than stretching beyond what we do well.
Where We Work
Our team is based in Wakiso, just outside Kampala, and works across Uganda — Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Mpigi, Luwero, Mubende, Masindi, Hoima, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Gulu and beyond — with regional assignments across East and Central Africa.