Fight to save mountain gorillas creating tensions over tourism | World | News
Communities surrounding Bwindi Impenetrable National Park benefit from mountain gorilla tourism (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Express)
Revenue from mountain gorilla tourism has created some tension between conservationists working to protect the species and local communities trying to improve their livelihoods.
Just under 50% of gorillas are habituated to humans in Uganda’s Bwindi National Park but some locals want it to be more so revenue from tourists can rise.
The Buhoma Mukono Community Development Association (BMCDA) was created by locals surrounding the forest to “harness the power of conservation and tourism”.
The community-led group has helped transform lives of locals by supporting projects like the installation of water tanks, crop growing and livestock donations thanks to funds generated by tourists paying nearly £600 for a mountain gorilla trek permit.
Dorothy Akampurira, public relations officer at the BMCDA, said: “We are at a point where we want to grow and we’re looking at having more projects because we want our community to really benefit more from conservation so I’d say looking at what we’re heading for and what we’re planning, we’re going to need more funds so that we can have more projects running and we can have our communities benefit more from what we do and more from tourism.
“So we need more clients coming in.”
A colleague from the BMCDA added: “We need more gorillas to be produced because the more gorillas we get, the more clients we get because when you have many groups, it attracts many tourists because they’d be available and there wouldn’t be the restrictions we’d have now.
“We need more gorillas, more visitors, more money and more projects.”
When Dorothy was asked about worries over too many gorillas competing for finite resources, she added: “I think there is no concern about more gorillas being around because the forest is large enough to accommodate as many gorillas [as possible]. There is no worry about that.”
But primatologist Cath Lawson, senior programme advisor for Africa at WWF UK, warned the habitat may be unable to sustain the increasing mountain gorilla population.
She said: “Mountain gorillas are found in just two sub-populations in the entire world and those sub-populations are essentially islands in what are human-dominated landscapes. The areas where mountain gorillas can go are limited.
“And so, whilst it’s fantastic that mountain gorilla populations continue to increase, there is a point at which the habitats which are available to mountain gorillas may not be able to sustain the number of gorillas that we have.
“What’s really exciting is that at the moment we’re about to start, through the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, a mountain gorilla action planning process. That will bring together all the stakeholders that work in this landscape – NGOs, government and communities – to work together to think about what the future of mountain gorillas looks like. How solutions that work for both people and nature can be part of our conservation plans going forwards.”
Primatologist Cath Lawson, of WWF UK (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Express)
Daniel Biriungi, 53, with his son Jordan next to the cow given by the BMCDA (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Express)
The BMCDA’s work has helped one community ensure girls do not drop out of school to walk the more than six mile round trip to collect water from a river.
Instead, 35 households benefit from a large water tank that harvests rainfall during the intense rainy season.
Dozens of locals have also been taught to nurture and grow crops as part of Bwindi’s Nutrition Project where Warren Baryebuza told how it has slashed people’s dependency on the forest’s resources.
He described how this means gorillas and humans are not competing with each other – and therefore reducing the risk of human-wildlife conflict.
Father-of-five Daniel Biriungi, 53, was given a cow thanks to BMCDA funds and has now been able to use natural manure to double the yield and revenue from his robusta coffee crops from four bags a season to eight.
Elias Atigabirwe guiding Steph Spyro and Cath Lawson down the steep trails of Bwindi (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Express)
Porter Elias Atigabirwe felt mountain gorillas were “very, very bad” animals when he was growing up watching his parents chase them away from his family’s crops.
But nearly 30 years later, he credits the endangered animals for turning his life around.
Elias is among the 100 others who have accompanied tourists into Bwindi Impenetrable National Park for the past eight years, carrying their bags and helping foreigners navigate the steep terrain of the forest.
Speaking to the Express following a trek, he said: “I like the gorillas. When I was born, I would see the gorillas when they would come destroy our crops. Our parents would chase them away and we would follow them. I started seeing gorillas at the age of five. Later, at the age of 25, I requested to be a porter.”
“When I was young gorillas would come and destroy our crops and we could get famine because of gorillas. I saw them as very, very bad things. But now, after schooling and working with tourists, I see them now as a very good thing. Sometimes, the money we get helps sustain the community and neighbours. Now, the whole community sees gorillas as an important thing. They all love gorillas.”
