The government of Uganda through the Ministry of Tourism of Wildlife and Antiquities is yet to gazette several forest reserves into national parks. The move aims at ensuring the protection of the Uganda’s forests that are dilapidating at a fast speed.
According to Uganda wildlife Authority (UWA) publication for “National Plan for Management of Wildlife outside Uganda Wildlife Authority Protected Areas”; Uganda has a total of 1.2 million hectares of central forest reserves and 5000 hectares of local forest reserves. All these are under the care of local governments and the National forestry Authority (NFA).
In a letter by Ms Doreen Katusiime which was sent early last week to the local governments where these forest reserves are found; she noted that the upgrade of these forests is in line with the National Wildlife Protected Areas Systems Plan (2002).
The move follows an assessment study that was done in 2018 to establish the importance and intrinsic values of the forest reserves. The findings recommended the upgrade of Kalinzu Forest, Maramagambo Frest and Budongo Forest.
The new status of the protected areas is expected to reduce encroachment by the people, illegal logging, poaching and deforestation.
The Ministry of Tourism is currently engaging the local governments adjacent to the earmarked forests to consent to the proposed upgrade of the forests into national parks, a move aimed at enhancing the protection status of these critical areas for wildlife protection.
Under this program, Kalinzu forest in Rubirizi district and Maramagambo Central Forest Reserves are to be annexed to Queen Elizabeth National Park, a world biosphere reserve in western Uganda.
Kalinzu Forest reserve is popular chimpanzee tracking destination outside Queen Elizabeth national park. It is one of the few forest reserves in Uganda with habituated chimpanzees.
The Maramagambo Forest popular for the Bat Cave will also become an extension of Queen Elizabeth national park. It is easier to make destination as whole thus Maramagambo will directly share in the popularity of Queen Elizabeth national park.
The Budongo Forest Reserve is also going to be annexed to the Murchison Falls National Park to ensure maximum protection of its rich biodiversity. Budongo Forest is rich in wildlife including the endangered chimpanzees, variety of bird species, and unique tree species among several other tourist pullers.
Similar to Kalinzu forest reserve, Budongo forest is also a popular chimpanzee tracking destination.
Currently tourism is already thriving in some of these forest reserves that are being considered for the annexation. The Kibale Forest National Park in western Uganda and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in south western Uganda are some of the successful projects that are already fetching high foreign currency receipts into the government coffers.
With the annexation of these forest reserves, the surrounding communities will become direct beneficiaries of the annual revenue sharing percentage from Uganda Wildlife Authority. Every year, Uganda wildlife Authority gives back billions of Uganda shillings to communities near national parks/protected areas in their revenue sharing policy that seeks to partner with communities near conservation area to ensure sustainable conservation.
The move is one of the several ways that Uganda Wildlife Authority is contributing to mindset change to that there is less human-wildlife conflict
On 15th December 2022; Bugoma Forest Reserve was also given a green light to upgrade to a national park status. This came after the land that was commissioned to the sugarcane factory was decommissioned.
Chimpanzee tracking is one of the leading primate safari activities that Uganda has to offer. With the annexation of most of the forest reserves which double as habitats to the endangered chimpanzees, chimpanzee tourism will most likely impact the annexed communities.
However, besides chimpanzee tracking, there are several other forest activities that could be adopted to ensure that conservation benefits the neighboring communities. These activities include but not limited to nature walks, birding, forest bathing, ziplining among several other activities.
