As wildlife populations dwindle and habitats shrink due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation, wild animals are forced to venture into human settlements in search of food, water, and shelter, leading to confrontations with farmers and residents, hence human-wildlife conflicts that result into safety challenges to local communities.
Located in western Uganda, bordering five districts including Kamwenge, Kasese, Bunyangabo, Kabalore, and Kyenjojo, Kibale National Park (KNP) surrounding communities regularly face the threat of crop destruction from wildlife, including a variety of endangered species, like African elephants (Loxodonta africana), common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) among others.
According to Moses Bahati, the resident of Isunga Central, the most common human-wildlife conflict in communities around the park is crop raiding, where elephants damage or destroy crops, leading to significant economic losses for farmers and exacerbating food insecurity in rural communities where agriculture and wildlife habitats overlap.
Crop raiding incidents have become increasingly common, straining relations between farmers and conservation authorities and undermining efforts to promote coexistence.
Rose Mutonyi, the warden of community conservation at Kibale National Park, says human-wildlife conflicts have caused a lot of issues between management and the neighboring communities because wildlife comes from the park to the community hence destroying some plantations, injuries to people, and even death causing some gaps between management and the community they should work with however UWA has come in to see that it puts in some interventions that these human-wildlife conflicts are settled.
When asked about poaching, she revealed that in the last five years, it has reduced, saying, “We have seen a few cases of poaching because we are working closely with the community who tells us information about poaching areas and poachers so that we can reform them.”
Mutonyi further explained that to keep the reformed poachers, several livelihood projects have been put in place, including beehives, goats, water tanks, boda bodas, and direct jobs, for example, people working in the restoration area so that they don’t go back into poaching.
In terms of compensation, she highlighted that the compensation law came into force in 2022 and since then the communities that have been affected have come on board and submitted their compensation claims being a new policy, it is taking off gradually however it is working so long as a person has filled the form very well it takes all the stages and they have been compensated.
“In our archives here at Kibale National Park, we have over 150 claims, and I wish to say that we have about 80 people who have been considered but not yet paid; however on that figure, 15 have been paid. When they award them with the compensation claims, they come back this way to sign the agreement about acceptance of what has been given for example if a person claims 20 million and then the form comes with 10 million, that person has to first sign an agreement of acceptance of what is being given and we are now waiting for about 70 people who have approved to take what has been offered to them and if this comes back it will be a good figure though I receive over 70 compensation forms in a month,” Mutonyi noted.
To address these challenges, UWA has put in place various procedures, including the construction of boardwalks and tranches in addition to the beehives to prevent wildlife, specifically the elephants, from encroaching in communities, the development of climate basic projects, community engagement, and sensitization, among others, which aim at demonstrating the importance of wildlife conservation.
John Justice Tibesigwa, the Chief Warden of Kibale National Park says that the excavation of the elephant deterrent tranches, which are 6 ft wide by 6 ft deep, has limited the number of encroachments because when the elephants reach it, they cannot cross; hence, enabling farmers outside to grow and harvest their crops.
“But there are areas where excavation of an elephant tranche is not possible; that is the reason why we came up with the innovation of constructing the elephant deterrent boardwalk, which is very effective against elephants, and since their construction, there has been a reduction in terms of crop riding,” the chief warden noted.
All these are under the Investing in Forests and Protected Areas for Climate-Smart Development Project with the main objective of improving the sustainable management of forests and protected areas and increasing benefits to communities from forests in target landscapes.
David Ngabirano, the LC 1 chairperson of Isunga village, Kabalore district, lauds UWA’s efforts, saying that as a result of such measures, especially the boardwalks and tranches, few cases are observed, and when such limited incidents happen, they immediately inform the rangers for rescue, adding on that, “We can now grow and harvest our crops as well as living a happy life knowing that at least both our property and lives are safe.”
Kibale National Park has become a model for sustainable coexistence following the strategic collaborations and safeguarding procedures that have been undertaken to safeguard both biodiversity and livelihoods.
Established in 1993, the Park in the western part of Uganda, about 348km (5 hrs drive) from Kampala, is considered to be the primate capital of East Africa, with high densities of primates, including chimpanzees, whereby this park is the only convenient place for chimpanzee tracking in Uganda.
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