Cliff Abenaitwe
In Bizimana Eric’s conversations about the Bwindi-Mgahinga Conservation Area (BMCA), the phrase “Eri neihamba ryaitu“—which means “our forest” in Rufumbira—often surfaces. This vast region in South Western Uganda includes Echuya Forest, Mgahinga National Park, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Bizimana, a resident of Ruceri village in Nyarusinza Sub County, Kisoro district, lives on the edge of this protected forest. As a member of the Batwa tribe, Bizimana’s connection to the forest is deeply personal.
The Batwa, an indigenous group who once thrived in the forests of the BMCA, were forcibly displaced in the early 1990s to make way for conservation efforts.
The government’s decision to establish the conservation area marked a dramatic shift for the Batwa, leaving many homeless and landless. Struggling to survive, they were often driven to infringe upon the forests they once called home in search of food and sustenance.
“As conservation refugees, we turned to hunting and illegal entry into the forests for fruits, honey, and other food items. This was illegal, but we had few options,” narrates Bizimana, adding that as a community after eviction, “the forests were of no value to us at the time.” Most Batwa have since been resettled or integrated into different communities.
BMCA is a beacon of conservation and tourism in Uganda. This area is home to 27 mountain gorilla families, with over 400 individuals, nearly half of the total world gorilla population.
Over the years, Uganda’s government and conservation partners have tried to put communities at the forefront of conservation.
“Conservation efforts must involve communities. Conservation for them (communities), without them approach does not work at all,” observes Grahams Tumwekwatse, a tourism and conservation specialist.
According to Tumwekwatse, conservation-related challenges like the eviction of people from protected areas, and the wildlife crossing from the wild into neighboring villages where they destroy crops – leading to human-wildlife conflicts are inevitable, but the benefits of conservation outweigh them.
“These benefits can only be realized if deliberate efforts are undertaken to sensitize communities on conservation. This makes them realize the advantages of conservation, as well as how to coexist with wildlife,” adds Tumwekwatse, whose view is almost similar to that of Dickson Katana – the manager of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) southern sector of Bwindi National Park. UWA is a government body that manages all gazetted conservation areas in Uganda.
“At UWA, we put communities at the center of conservation. We purposefully involve people living next to conservation areas in planning for sustainable wildlife conservation. We want to see a community that looks at conservation areas and wildlife as treasures that we all must protect,” Katana says.
He explains that through community sensitization over the years, people now appreciate the importance of conservation.
“Today, there are few cases of people crossing into the conservation area. We have also seen former poachers come out to renounce their actions, which are results of our community engagement and sensitization efforts,” he reveals.
Today, there exists the Bwindi Buhoma United Reformed Poachers Initiative, an association of former poachers who are now part of the community members who work as tour guides. This activity is proving to be a stable source of income. Among other activities, they assist in conducting nature treks in the forest, like the Buniga Forest Walk at Nkuringo. The forest trail takes you on a walking journey where you enjoy the beautiful flora and fauna of the forest, spot some of the wild animals, and get entertained by the Batwa communities.
Further south of Nkuringo, in the Buhoma sector (Kanungu district), exists the Sanuriiro community, where a section of Batwa now lives and earns a living by making handcrafts like bags and necklaces, which they sell to tourists.
Moses Ekyagaba, a resident of Mukono village in Buhoma, says they acquired the crafts-making skills from capacity-building training by government and conservation non-governmental organizations.
Like Bizimana, Evaristo Kyomukama, a father of 10 from the Karehe Batwa group in Buhoma, is happy about the forest’s existence and the benefits it has brought to the community, despite the fact that they no longer live in it.
“This is a forest for all of us. It is for us today and for our children in the future. We cannot allow anyone to destroy it,” he emphasizes. The Karehe group is involved in activities like entertaining tourists, guiding tours, making and selling handicrafts, and cultivating.
Is revenue sharing an added game changer?
Another intervention benefiting conservation area edge communities is the revenue sharing scheme.
Under this government of Uganda introduced arrangement, UWA shares 20 percent of its annual park revenue with the people surrounding national parks and wildlife reserves. In the BMCA, UWA shares USD 10 from each gorilla tracking permit sold. A standard gorilla permit is USD 800 for a foreign non-resident, USD 80 for East African citizens, USD 700 for foreign residents, and USD 500 for holders of other African passports.
According to Richard Munezero, the Kisoro district tourism officer, revenue-sharing money has, over the years, supported household and community projects that reduce human-wildlife conflict and improve households’ livelihoods.
He explains that projects like animal keeping, tree planting, apiary, Irish, beans, and potato growing have been funded at the household level. At the community level, funds under the revenue-sharing arrangement have constructed schools, health centers, community roads, and water tanks. Authorities have also supported community initiatives to plant the Mauritius thorn hedge along the park boundaries to control animals from crossing into people’s gardens.
In Kisoro district alone, park neighboring villages in Rubuguri, Nyanamo, and Nkuringo town councils, as well as in Nyarusiza and Muramba sub-counties, have benefited from revenue sharing. “I received a goat in 2019 under the revenue sharing scheme. I now have eight goats. This is a good initiative,” narrates Beatrice Tushemerirwe, a mother of two and a Mutugunda Village, Nkuringo town council resident. According to Tushemerirwe, almost all homesteads in the area have received at least something under revenue sharing.
Are these efforts paying-off?
“It is clear that conservation efforts in Bwindi and Mgahinga areas yield positive results. Our communities are benefiting from wildlife and happy to coexist with the protected areas,” says Sam Arinaitwe Kajojo – the Kanungu district chairperson.
Over the years, different scientists and studies have concluded that more plants, mammals, and birds are returning to the Bwindi impenetrable forest. In addition, mountain gorillas are no longer critically endangered. Before 2018, mountain gorillas were listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, but this classification was changed to endangered in 2018 after their population increased from 680 in 2008 to 1004 in 2018. UWA reports that more than 20 mountain gorillas have been born since 2018.
Despite this positive trend, the conservation world was ‘thunder-shocked’ by the death of Rafiki. The 25-year-old silverback of the Nkuringo group was speared to death by a poacher in June 2020. It was the first case of its kind in Uganda in over a decade, with the culprit being Felix Byamukama, now serving a jail sentence of 11 years.
Byamukama is said to have entered the park to check on the traps he had laid to trap animals like wild pigs for meat but encountered Rafiki’s group. He claimed to have killed Rafiki in self-defense after it attacked him.
“This was a shock to everyone. It is something that must never happen again. That is why community sensitization, community engagement, mindset change training, and efforts to support communities with livelihood and income projects must be sustained,” Dr. James Musinguzi – the Executive Director of Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC), observes.
Coping with tough times
The world continues to grapple with climate change and the effects of climate change, and communities neighboring BMCA are no exception.
“We now experience prolonged droughts; our area is getting too hot and dry, and seasons are no longer predictable. It’s tough,” observes Buchanayandi Christopher, a mixed farmer in Buhoma.
He notes that his goats no longer have enough grass during the dry season, while his coffee plantation is no longer as green as it used to be seven to ten years ago.
In 2009, then-US President Barack Obama opined that “The world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine, and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades.” This appears to be the case today in BMCA, the entire country, and globally.
Farmers in Kanungu and Kisoro are, however, alive to this challenge. “We have realized that we must do things differently to withstand the effects of climate change,” Buchanayandi notes. At his farm, he has adopted compost manure making- which he applies to improve soil fertility and moisten the soil. He grows elephant grass along his land boundary, which he uses to make Hay to feed the goats during the dry season when the area barely has any grass.
In Rubuguri town council – Kisoro district, Innocent Mukandinda, one of the youth leaders in the area, has opted for back-yard vegetable growing using bottle drip irrigation.
“The onions, carrots, and other vegetables do not need a big piece of land, but also, they are easy to look after. I easily irrigate them when water is scarce during the dry season. With this, I have something to take to the market all year long,” he says, adding that he got this idea from community sensitization programs on climate change adaptation conducted by one of the local community-based organizations in the area in 2020.
Development experts observe that community sensitization and engagement are ways to change mindset.
Henry Mutabazi, a conservation specialist and the Country coordinator for the international gorilla conservation program, says that over the years, they have seen a change in practices, better planning, and farmer-to-farmer knowledge transfer among the over 120 households they have trained on mindset change in the Nkuringo area. “This is the way to go for community development while conserving sustainably,” Mutabazi emphasizes.
This story was produced with support from the Vanishing Treasures Programme and GRID-Arendal.
