Designated as a Man and Biosphere reserve by UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program in 2005, the Mount Elgon National Park (MENP) and Conservation Area is susceptible to an array of hindrances.
Problems such as human-wildlife conflicts among others are not unique to the Mount Elgon Conservation Area (MECA). The same is encountered by Uganda’s other Man and Biosphere Reserve – Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area.
This means yet another puzzle to solve for the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the national agency mandated to manage ecosystems, protect wildlife, handle problem animals, promote protected areas as tourism destinations, and do community sensitization and awareness creation on conservation among other duties.
Significance of Mt Elgon Conservation Area
Apart from being a host to numerous flora and fauna species, the Mount Elgon Conservation Area contributes immensely to air purification through absorbing large amounts of carbon emitted by industries and other carbon sources as well as being a water catchment area.
According to UWA, MENP has about 273 tree and shrub species, 296 bird species, 30 small mammals, 171 butterfly species and 71 large moth species. It is also home to mammals including monkeys (Black and White Colobus, Blue and the De Brazza’s) leopards, elephants, bush pigs, waterbuck, and duikers.
The Kapkwai Forest alone has about 276 medicinal plants that locals use to treat various illnesses ranging from Diabetes, Prostate Cancer, STIs like Gonorrhea, skin rash, malaria, stomach upsets among others.
Water Catchment Area
Behind the mantra “Elgon – the land of a thousand waterfalls” lies the reality of what MECA is and what it contributes to the wellbeing of the environment. It is a water catchment area for Uganda’s Eastern Region.
Mt. Elgon serves as a catchment area for the drainage systems of three lakes – Victoria, Turkana and Kyoga.
The numerous waterfalls – both popular and less known – thousands of streams and rivers that flow from Elgon’s hills and mountain ranges support domestic, recreational and commercial water use.
These rivers include Nzoia, Soloko, Lwakhakha, Suam, Sipi, Malaba, Sio- Malakisi, Atari, Manafwa, Ngenge and Namatale.
The waterfalls – which are over 1,000 – are a prized tourist attraction and draw in a sizable number of visitors. The revenue collected is, in turn, injected into conservation strategies but also contributes to the 20% share that UWA gives back to the community.
Carbon Sink
A carbon sink is defined as a thing or process that absorbs more amounts of carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.
The world’s major carbon sinks are plants (forests), oceans and soil.
These absorb carbon from carbon sources – a thing or process that releases more carbon amounts than it absorbs. The common examples of carbon sources are factories and industries which burn fossil fuels, volcanic eruptions and deforestation among many others.
According to an article by www.clientearth.org, a renowned environmental organization, the world’s forests absorb 2.6bn tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, yet, an area the size of a football pitch is destroyed every second.
With an estimated 60,000 hectares coverage of forest cover including the Kapkwai Forest, Mount Elgon National Park is one of Uganda’s largest carbon sinks and a source of revenue through the sale of carbon permits.
Conservation strategies
Strategic Partnerships with Neighboring Communities
In his message for the Mount Elgon National Park General Management Plan (GMP) for the year 2022/2023-2031/2032, UWA Executive Director Mr. Sam Mwandha noted that the best way of conserving wildlife is through forming strategic partnerships with relevant stakeholders, many of whom are locals in the communities surrounding wildlife protected areas.
Communities rely on MENP for numerous resources such as food (bamboo shoots being a delicacy in the area), firewood, thatching grass, medicinal herbs among others.
As such, UWA has signed Memoranda of Understanding with the locals that allow them regulated access to the park every Saturday to pick what they need while being ambassadors of conservation in their localities.
“UWA cannot deny these people a chance to use the forest resources. This relationship we have with them has enabled a somewhat seamless operation, law-bending individuals notwithstanding. Most of them have since become trained community guides who help us a lot with conservation works,” says Bashir Mugalula, one of the MECA ranger guides.
Awareness Creation
Mr. Moses Abiriga, another ranger guide at MECA notes that UWA has invested in school and community outreaches to teach masses the importance of conservation and how they can individually contribute to this noble cause.
“We are aware of the hostilities against UWA by some members of the community who would rather graze their cattle on Park land. We have organized a couple of outreaches to guide the people on how the wildlife, environment and man can live together and depend on one another,” Mr. Abiriga says.
Deterring human-wildlife conflict
UWA is exploring viable measures to prevent animals from straying into nearby gardens where they destroy crops or injure people – a major trigger for hostility from the neighboring communities.
“We are digging trenches around areas where buffaloes tend to stray from the park and end up in the communities. We are also engaging the people more on notifying the Authority other than killing stray animals, irrespective of the damage they might have caused,” said MECA Chief Warden Samuel Amanya during an engagement with the media last week at Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve headquarters.
He also hinted on plans to introduce the electric wire fence in some parts of the park as was done for Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Inspiring Conservation through revenue sharing with locals
While giving out revenue sharing funds to local communities around the Bwindi – Mgahinga Conservation Area in 2022, the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Hon. Tom Butime emphasized that the locals not only keep guard of protected resources but also suffer the cost of conservation.
He noted, therefore, that it is crucial that Government, through UWA, gives back a portion of the revenue from the Park to appreciate the role of the community in protecting wildlife resources.
According to ranger Mugalula, revenue sharing in the MECA fosters a cordial relationship between the local communities and UWA “which is a win-win for conservation.”
Promoting MECA as a tourist destination
Uganda Wildlife Authority has developed tour packages in the Mount Elgon Conservation Area to increase the number of tourists that visit the park and its other facilities so as to generate more revenue.
Some of the tourist activities in MECA in are; hiking, caldera tour at the top of Mount Elgon, nature guided walks at the base of the forest (there are various routes from the Kapkwai Forest Exploration Center in Kapchorwa), birding (there are 37 bird species that are endemic to the Mt Elgon range), caving (done at Kapkwai Cave, Mise Cave, Kaptum Cave, Tutum Cave among others), cycling (incudes a cycling circuit from Kapkwai to Pian Upe, annual cycling competitions from the bottom to top of the mountain), and the new product – marathon to the top of the mountain.
Maintaining Traditional Values
Like any other ethnicities around the world, cultural cohorts around the Mount Elgon National Park have traditional beliefs and values they attach to environmental features.
“People here believe that their ancestors and gods reside in huge trees deep within the forest and as such, they preserve these trees to not anger the spirits. As UWA, much as we might not hold the same personal beliefs, we uphold and promote these traditional values for conservation purposes,” ranger guide Mugalula says.
