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BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK- WHS

BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK- WHS. A thematic example of good management practices. Background. Gazetted in 1991 as a National Park 320 sq km Was formerly a forest reserve where communities were allowed to access resources without any form of deterrent Was inscribed a WHS in 1994

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BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK- WHS

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  1. BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK- WHS A thematic example of good management practices

  2. Background • Gazetted in 1991 as a National Park • 320 sq km • Was formerly a forest reserve where communities were allowed to access resources without any form of deterrent • Was inscribed a WHS in 1994 • Its gazettement met a lot of resistance from the communities • The boundary had no buffer zone

  3. Bwindi • Bwindi is the Home to the Mountain gorilla – currently about 340 individuals • Hot spot for biodiversity conservation within the Great Albertine Rift which presents itself as the intersection between the DRC tropical forests and the East African Savannah vegetation • Pleistocene refugia

  4. Threats at the time of Inscription • Poaching and massive killing of wildlife including the critically endangered Mountain gorilla • Habitat degradation through timber harvesting and encroachment • Population pressure • Disease to the Mountain gorilla; e.g. scabies • Negative attitudes towards creation of the area as Park • Lack of adequate resources to support management • Invasive • Demand for road construction through the very sensitive part of the park • Unclear boundary to communities and staff • No guidelines were in place to support management – GMP, AOP • Inappropriate Law which did not recognise the roles for the community

  5. Efforts in maintaining the site • Marking of boundaries to ensure that they are very clear to all community members • Compensation of all community encroachers who left the PA • Involvement of communities in fighting poaching – Gorilla trafficking and other forms of wildlife protection • Change of community attitudes through community conservation strategies – poaching, land acquisition, law enforcement, • Introduction of tourism initiatives that put the communities at the fore front • Involvement of other partners – CARE, IGCP, MGVP, Local Government, CTPH, ICCN, ITFC, BMCT, UNESCO • Sharing of benefits from the proceeds of the PA – 20% of entry fee, US $5 as gorilla permit levy, sustainable harvest of NTP • General management planning – involvement of all stakeholders • Annual Operations planning – • Employment of locals • Recognition of the indigenous people’s (Batwa) needs to have access to NTPs • Securing of buffer areas for staff infrastructure developments • Staff capacity building in monitoring and conservation generally

  6. Employment Employment

  7. Ecotourism • Proximity to PAs allows community ecotourism initiatives

  8. Revenue Sharing

  9. Challenges • Global Climate change • Transboundary movements of the mountain gorilla • Developments next to the PA • Crop raiding by the gorilla • Closing forest habitat • Poaching • Isolation and gene pool building • Introduction of exotic plants • Need for more research/ support to studies that will inform management

  10. Thank You

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