The proposal would have turned over 70 square kilometres of the 300 square kilometre Mabira forest to the Indian-owned Mehta Group, causing alarm among conservationists.
The forest near Lake Victoria is home to more than 300 species of birds, 200 types of trees and nine different primates, report said.
Environmentalists say the forest’s value in storing carbon dioxide and mitigating global warming far exceeded any commercial gains from sugar cane production.
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