 In northern Uganda, forests are owned and managed communally, using customary institutions common in that region. Following the long drawn-out 10-year civil war that ended in 2007, communities in that region have been working to reorganize and strengthen their customary institutions for better management and use of forests amid changing situations. In recognition of this pivotal role that communities play, the government introduced forest tenure reforms that encourage and strengthen the participation of organized community groups in the management of forest lands. Customary is what was operating in most of the parts of the country other than the central part of the country, in the north, in the east and the greater west. This communal land could be forested and this forest, therefore, is managed by the people that own the land communally. We have been working with the community forest owners to take them through the formalization of one, registering themselves as an entity. Currently, before registration, the community has partial ownership of this forest and then the members also have partial ownership. But once it is registered, the members become more corporate institution to manage this forest. After that registration, then we go into pursuing the registration of the community forests. Those steps involve approval of the availability of land, approval of the availability of the forest, gating signatures from area land committees at sub-county level, presenting the proposals for council approval, developing a forest management plan for the forest that is to be registered, linking those aspects which are done at local government level with the process at the national level, seeking for technical approval by the forest sector support department, but also seeking for the approval, finally, by the minister. Lamuor is one of the districts in northern Uganda where communities have come together to form associations that manage their forest lands. With support from the district government office, seven villages corresponding to the seven clans surrounding the Orongogo forest formed the Lamuor Environmental Protection Association, LEPA. LEPA is now tasked with various roles in managing the community forest in collaboration with customary chiefs and village leaders. Here we have about seven villages which are now protecting the forest. We have the tools, we have the co-institution, we have the forest management plan in place. And normally we sit quarterly to see that to review what has happened and we see the challenges, then we get the solution. We have been restricting movement in the forest and we have been restricting cutting trees anyhow in the forest, except we allow community to go and collect on the firewoods, the dried trees which are there. We have been working on this for a long time. We have been working on this for a long time. Forest tenure reforms in northern Uganda aimed at strengthening existing customary forest institutions. Lamuor residents make several observations regarding the process of formalising customary forest tenure institutions. One notable change has been increased collaboration between the government and local communities and adoption of participatory processes in making and implementing decisions on forest management. The opinions regarding the registration of community forests are varied. There is general consensus that the measures that the government has put in place to formalise customary tenure rights enhance the security of communities in the access, holding and managing a forest However, there are those who feel that the process is lengthy, complex and expensive. The government contends that the process is complex and long because of the several measures put in place to protect the rights of local people from opportunistic intruders who would have taken advantage of a quicker process to grab communal land. We feel if the registration process has been implemented, it would give us more power to protect the forest. At the moment, the papers we understand are in compiler, so we are really appealing to the stakeholders involved or responsible stakeholders to support us and ensure that registration is done. It is such an important process. But we, as civil society, have complained about it being long but also have appreciated the fact that it has to be long because if it was such a snappy short process, then we would be having intruders who would come to cheat the community. People feel this is a complicated process. A common property belongs to anybody. We are just claiming it because we are members. But once the registration is done, it becomes a legal paper that would be binding. This should be integrated in those things that the district forest services can support. If there is a community that is interested in registering their forest, then they should approach a district forest officer who takes it on as part of his responsibility funded by government.