Conservation of vertebrates and plants in Uganda: Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas and other sites of national importance

Plumptre, Andrew J.; Ayebare, Samuel; Behangana, Mathias; Forrest, Tom G.; Hatanga, Paul; Kabuye, Christine H. S.; Kirunda, Ben; Kityo, Robert; Mugabe, Hamlet; Namaganda, Mary; Nampindo, Simon; Nangendo, Grace; Nkuutu, David N.; Pomeroy, Derek; Tushabe, Herbert; Prinsloo, Sarah

doi:10.1002/csp2.7

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In Uganda, East Africa, conflicts between large carnivores and human communities are common (Mudumba, 2011; Sheppard, 2014; Uganda Wildlife Authority, 2010). Extremely high livestock densities and small, isolated protected areas with porous borders contribute to this high prevalence (Plumptre et al, 2019; Venter et al, 2016). Many Ugandans have a very strong cultural and economic connection to cattle production, and with an average of 50 cows/km 2 (Cook, 2015) the country has the highest density of cattle anywhere on the continent, and the eighth highest in the world (Robinson et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for increasing human‐wildlife conflict despite a financial compensation scheme on the edge of a Ugandan National Park

Braczkowski

Fattebert

Schenk³

et al. 2020

Conservat Sci and Prac

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The conflict of large carnivores and agro-pastoral communities is a key driver of carnivore decline globally. The East African state of Uganda relies heavily on tourism as a GDP contributor and large carnivores are important for generating visitor revenue in its national parks. African leopards, spotted hyenas and African lions are three species that draw significant tourist attention but also cause damage to the livestock of human communities living on Ugandan national park edges. A private safari lodge in the Lake Mburo National Park has been using a financial compensation scheme in an attempt to stem conflict between these species and human communities living in the region since 2009. Financial compensations have produced mixed results with some studies reporting successes in reducing carnivore deaths, while others warn against their use, citing moral hazard, financial unsustainability and weakened protection of livestock by farmers. We sought to assess the characteristics of this compensation scheme and the patterns of conflict between Bahima pastoralist communities and carnivores that the scheme aims to mitigate. Using a dataset of 1,102 leopard and hyena depredation events (January 2009-December 2018) we found that spotted hyenas were responsible for the overwhelming majority of livestock depredation (69%) around Lake Mburo. Depredations occurred mostly at night (97% and 89% of all depredation for spotted hyenas and leopards respectively) and inside livestock protective pens (bomas). Depredation was more likely to occur in rugged areas, closer to human settlements, and the national park border, and further away from water. We could find no evidence of seasonality in depredation events. Our most important, albeit worrying result was that conflict had increased dramatically over time and the number of depredation claims had tripled in the period from 2014-2018 when compared to 2009-2013, risking financial unsustainability of the scheme. Our results are important for future conservation stakeholders attempting to implement financial compensation in the broader Ugandan landscape. They suggest

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for increasing human‐wildlife conflict despite a financial compensation scheme on the edge of a Ugandan National Park

Braczkowski

Fattebert

Schenk³

et al. 2020

Conservat Sci and Prac

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“…Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano known for its diversity of endemic species and considered by conservation scientists to be irreplaceable [34]. The vegetation consists of four major vegetation types: (a) mixed montane forest (up to 2500 m), (b) bamboo and low canopy montane forest (2400-3000 m), (c) high montane heath (3000-3500 m), and (d) moorland (>3500 m).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the confluence of diverse climates and altitudinal ranges in its territory, creating a variety of habitats, relative to its area, Uganda is a biodiverse country, with 1742 terrestrial vertebrate species [34] 4816 plant species [35,36], 1300 species of butterflies, and 260 dragonfly species [34]. However, the country lost half of its overall biodiversity value from 1975 to 1995 [37] due to habitat loss, agricultural encroachment, and expansion, climate change effects, and over-harvesting of resources, among others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing and Applying Stakeholder Perceptions to Improve Protected Area Governance in Ugandan Conservation Landscapes

Omoding¹,

Walters²,

Andama³

et al. 2020

Land

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Given the diversity of active institutions and stakeholders in a landscape, and the difficulties in ensuring inclusive decision-making, evaluating landscape governance can help surface and address underlying issues. In the context of two protected area landscapes in Uganda, where landscape approaches are being implemented through a wider project on landscape governance, we analyse stakeholder perceptions of inclusive decision-making and then use this evaluation to stimulate dialogue amongst stakeholder groups in each landscape. We ask, how can capturing, analysing, and collaboratively applying people’s perceptions address inclusive decision-making in landscape governance? We collected and analysed perceptions using SenseMaker®, a software package that enables analysis of micronarratives (stories) from the field based on how respondents classify their own stories, using triads, dyads, stones, and multiple-choice questions. This self-categorisation by the respondent reduces bias in the analysis and allows the micronarrative to be cross-examined in a variety of ways when analysed using Sensemaker. This analysis created an integrated view of the stakeholder’s perceptions about inclusive decision-making in landscape governance. The results show large portions of the respondents feel their voices are neglected, and management of the landscape is poor in Mount Elgon, while in Agoro-Agu, it is the opposite trend. During a community feedback process, reasons for these trends were discussed and solutions proposed. Some of the underlying factors include historical relationships with park authorities and displacement during park creation. To more precisely answer our research question, one could have extended stays in the communities studied in these landscapes, using ethnographic methods including interviews and participant observation; nonetheless, our method, including the feedback process, was an innovative and important way to confront our findings with the informants directly and foster collaborative action. We conclude that understanding people’s perceptions, including through participatory feedback, can significantly inform and improve management decisions, help resolve conflicts, and facilitate dialogue between different stakeholders in the landscape.

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“…However, there is an unsolved problem, a high percentage (65%) of the whole herpetological diversity is out of the Protected Areas, and human pressure is going fast for destroying habitats and is threatening species. Criteria for creating new Protected Areas should be based on scientific information emphasising the key biodiversity areas on national level in compliance with the global standards and IUCN guidelines (Plumptre et al, 2019). The present study, which is the first in the country of this kind, produces the indices that should be used for the identification of priority sites for conservation.…”

Section: Country Endemic Reptile Species With Their Conservation Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present study, which is the first in the country of this kind, produces the indices that should be used for the identification of priority sites for conservation. A similar study has been recently produced for Uganda (Plumptre et al, 2019). Our results were drawn from long-term and largescale surveys, but the survey efforts were not evenly distributed at the survey sites so that there is need of more inventories in the future.…”

Section: Country Endemic Reptile Species With Their Conservation Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using diversity indices for identifying the priority sites for herpetofauna conservation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Chifundera¹

2019

Nat. Conserv. Res.

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To date, knowledge about the herpetological diversity and the species distribution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains largely incomplete. In order to fill this gap, we carried out long-term and large-scale herpetological surveys to improve the knowledge about the herpetofauna occurrence and species composition data. Site scanning, visual encounter, transect and quadrat methods were used along with call recordings for identifying and locating amphibians on each survey site. Additional data were gathered from literature reviews and museum collections. The herpetological diversity was assessed on twenty-eight survey sites located in both Congo Basin and Albertine Rift ecoregions. All surveyed localities and sites were georeferenced in order to generate distribution maps by using QGIS 2.14.0 software. Herpetological diversity indices were generated using the PAST software. Using morphological characters and information provided by DNA analysis, species lists were produced per site and on national level. The results show that the rich Congolese herpetofauna is composed of 605 species, including 247 (40.83%) amphibians and 358 (59.17%) reptiles. There are 57 endemic amphibian species (23.1%) and of these, 19 (32.7%) are located in Protected Areas. There are 38 endemic reptile species (10.6%) and of these, twelve (31.5%) are found in Protected Areas. Furthermore, there are nine and seventeen threatened amphibian and reptile species respectively; but only 20% of these have been detected inside of national parks. Concerning this situation, it appears that, if no action is undertaken for fighting against the human pressure on habitat, there will be a decline in populations and species in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Based on relevant indices, including species richness, rarity, diversity, endemism, and presence of threatened species, and other objective criteria in respect to international standards, the following ten sites were identified as sites of priority for conservation: Marungu, Kabobo, Itombwe, Ituri, Tshopo, Mai Ndombe Tumba, Lualaba, Lukaya, Sankuru, and Ubangi Uele. These sites are proposed as new Protected Areas for reaching the government's national conservation targets of land preservation necessary for conserving the rich biodiversity.

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Conservation of vertebrates and plants in Uganda: Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas and other sites of national importance

Cited by 19 publications

References 12 publications

Evidence for increasing human‐wildlife conflict despite a financial compensation scheme on the edge of a Ugandan National Park

Evidence for increasing human‐wildlife conflict despite a financial compensation scheme on the edge of a Ugandan National Park

Analysing and Applying Stakeholder Perceptions to Improve Protected Area Governance in Ugandan Conservation Landscapes

Using diversity indices for identifying the priority sites for herpetofauna conservation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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