Conservation to Coexist

Fort Portal, Uganda

An Overview Of Our Solution

Our project is improving the livelihoods of local people, reducing human-wildlife conflict, and promoting biodiversity conservation in Uganda through a community-based anti-crop raiding project. Crop raiding is the leading cause of human-wildlife conflict, which has led to the injury and death of endangered species. At the same time, local people endure hardships from crop raiding, including exposure to diseases and food insecurity. We have identified four methods for reducing crop raiding and providing economic opportunities for local people -- maintaining a trench along park boundaries, planting tea as a buffer crop, creating bee hive fences that also provide honey, and growing garlic as a cash crop. Through these land-use changes, we aim to improve biodiversity conservation and provide sustainable solutions to human-wildlife conflict.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Nirlaba

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Population impacted

1000

Size of agricultural area

300 ha

Production quantity

variable

People employed

Describe your solution

We have implemented four sustainable and eco-friendly strategies for reducing crop raiding. There is a trench (a large ditch) that runs along the boundary of the park, but is not regularly maintained. When properly maintained, the trench is effective at preventing elephants from crossing out of the park. We have implemented a trench maintenance program as part of our project. The trench is unable to be dug in swampy areas, so elephants take advantage of those areas to pass out of the park and into farmland; however, the sound of bees deter elephants and they do not pass in swamps if there are bee hives blocking the path. Thus, we have created bee fences (bee hives connected by wire to create a continuous barrier) for swampy areas along the boundary for the park. Unpalatable buffer crops, such as tea, have been identified as an effective barriers that chimpanzees do not cross and have no interest in eating. Tea planted along the boundary can thus be used as a buffer crop for a variety of terrestrial animals that are able to cross the trench (e.g. baboons and chimpanzees), preventing them from entering gardens. Garlic has a large market in Uganda and there are efforts to increase the production of garlic. As an underground crop that requires little space and is unpalatable to many animals, garlic serves as a cash crop that can provide money for food to farmers who have lost their harvest during crop raiding events.

Describe your implementation

Conservation to Coexist is a community-based, Participatory Action Research project. Participatory Action Research empowers people to improve the issues in their community and provides them the knowledge necessary to do so successfully. Rather than studying a community from an outside perspective and making decisions about how the results should be utilized, Participatory Action Research allows the research “subjects” to be the very ones to conduct the research on their own communities and to determine how to use the results. Thus, traditional researchers move into a role as a facilitator. For this reason, we designed our project to be managed by local people and have each participant take an active role in the project while always having access to mentorship from myself as a facilitator. I work to empower the managers, field assistants, and local community in their efforts. I secured initial funding for the project and then provided grant writing training and feedback that allowed the local managers to receive additional grants for the project. I continue to provide constant feedback on new aspects of the project, including reporting to granting agencies. With these new skills, members of the community will be able to pursue projects without my help in the future. Furthermore, the community feels invested. Participatory Action Research is particularly important for conservation efforts where outside research on environmental issues and enforcing conservation strategies on local communities often cause local people to be at odds with conservation efforts. Participatory Action Research strives to ensure that the local community is invested in the conservation of their natural resources. In essence, Participatory Action Research is a sustainable method of teaching conservation initiatives and economic development. Furthermore, the four strategies we have implemented are sustainable land-use changes that support themselves without continual outside investment.

External connections

This project is a collaborative effort between myself, Kugonza Moses, and Busobozi Richard. Moses and Richard are both members of the local community who have worked for many years in Kibale as research assistants and run this project in Uganda. Our project works closely with a number of agencies and organizations in Uganda. All of our strategies are being implemented with the permission of and in collaboration with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), which is the government agency that oversees all wildlife areas in Uganda. We are also working closely with the Makerere University Biological Field Station (MUBFS), which runs the research sites in and around Kibale National Park. We have partnered with other researchers who have tested particular strategies, including Kagoro Wilson who tested tea as a buffer crop on a different side of the park and Owoyesigire George who tested bee hives as elephant deterrents on the far side of the park. Both Wilson and George are Ugandans who work in the government and have provided both logistical support and relevant knowledge to our project. UWA and MUBFS are both keen to find solutions to the human-wildlife conflict, as they deal constantly with the tension between the park and local community. UWA, in particular, has faced intense criticism and anger from local communities in recent years. Our project is helping to relieve these tensions and improve the relationship between the local communities and the park.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Our flagship project is based in Kibale National Park, Uganda, which is rich in biodiversity with 13 species of primates, a variety of large mammals, birds, and other wildlife. There has been growing tension between the conservation area and the communities neighboring the park. These negative views result in aggression towards endangered species. Chimpanzees regularly incur snare injuries from traps set on farmland, and researchers have witnessed farmers killing chimpanzees and other primates on their land. Furthermore, several elephants have been killed potentially in retaliatory events after crop raiding incidents. Community members identify crop raiding as the top reason for negative views of the park. They say that all of the animals in the park should be killed and the park destroyed. Thus, crop raiding threatens the conservation of the entire ecosystem. We have implemented land-use changes that will reduce the rate of human-wildlife conflict and improve conservation.

Describe the context in which you are operating

We work with subsistence farmers with land that borders Kibale National Park, Uganda. Only 19% of our participants have any other source of income aside from farming. The majority (81%) of people are subsistence farmers with no other source of money or food. The land is fertile in the area and farmers are able to grow a large variety and volume of food even on small pieces of land; however, their food is regularly destroyed by wild animals that crop raid, leaving the farmers nothing to eat. Our project has implemented land-use changes that both create barriers to crop raiding animals and provide alternative sources of income for farmers. Honey, tea, and garlic all have good markets in Uganda and are sustainable products that can be maintained and produced continuously after the initial investment. The project was requested by members of the local community and is a community-based, Participatory Action Research project, which means that each participant makes decisions about what land-use changes they want to participate in and then maintains those items and takes part in determining the effectiveness of those strategies on reducing crop raiding and improving the economic stability of their household. Thus, our true aim is to empower local communities with the knowledge and resources they need to promote their own economic development and reduce the human-wildlife conflict that threatens the conservation of biodiversity.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Our project has improved the perception of the park and conservation interest in the area. Because the land-use changes associated with our project take years to implement and fully develop, we are still in the early stages of this project and do not have final results on the degree that the project has improved conservation or economic conditions in the area; however, we conduct monthly surveys to assess how participants feel about the park and to keep track of how often they are reporting crop raiding events. Our surveys indicate that even the initial stages of this project have improved participants’ attitudes towards the park and conservation efforts. These surveys were first conducted before we began the project and will continue to be conducted on a regular basis to determine both how perceptions are changing and how the number of crop raiding events change. Ultimately, we also expect to see changes in the number injuries and death of endangered species in the area.

Language(s)

English and Rutooro

Water

Kibale Forest is attributed with bringing rain to the park and surrounding agricultural land. Subsistence farmers rely on rain to water their crops. There is no running water in the areas where we work and water is not used wastefully, but rather crops are planted on a schedule to make use of the natural rainfall patterns. As part of our project, we have taught farmers the best strategies for planting tea and garlic to utilize the best rainfall pattern for these crops.

Food Security/Nutrition

The farmers living along the boundary of the park suffer from food insecurity and poor nutrition because their crops are raided by animals and they are left with nothing to eat. Furthermore, they strategize what crops to plant to reduce the rates of crop raiding, meaning that they may choose to plant less nutritious food that will not attract animals. By preventing crop raiding, we will be improving the food security and nutrition of the local community.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Tea, garlic, and honey are viable options for economic development. These can each be produced sustainably in the local area and do not require continual economic investment. They also do not have negative effects on the environment. Thus, they not only serve as anti-crop raiding strategies, but also sustainable economic development strategies.

Climate

Kibale Forest helps to regulate the local climate – keeping temperatures moderate, providing rain, and creating fertile soil. The local community knows the importance of the forest for their climate and will list temperature, rain, and fertile soil as benefits they receive from living near the park. It is important, then, to find ways for the local community to coexist with the wildlife in the area.

Sustainability

Our project has been funded by granting agencies that have provided money for implementing these land-use changes, paying research assistants to collect survey data, and my travel to Uganda to provide training and mentorship. It will continue to need grant money for those reasons for the next 2-3 years; however, after data collection is complete, the project will no longer need outside support. The land-use changes we have implemented are self-sustaining and will not require continual support from outside agencies. There is hope that the communities will see economic growth from market-based revenue from the selling of tea, garlic, and honey. Thus, the benefits of this project should have long-lasting effects.

Return on investment

To date, our project has used approximately $25,000. This investment has covered the cost of agricultural materials that will continue to produce revenue for decades into the future. It also covered the computer and other electronics (including solar power charging station) needed to collect data, write grants, and create reports. Not only will these items be available for continued use, but the knowledge of how to use them and how to develop a successful project will also remain an important legacy of our work. The community associations and their connection to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (which were facilitated by our project) will provide fruitful collaborations for years to come. It is a small investment for exponential gains.

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How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

The goal of our project has always been to find anti-crop raiding methods that can be used widely. UWA wants this work to be replicated around all of their national parks. More importantly, we think of this project as something that could be used as the basis for anti-crop raiding projects across the globe. Each area has its own unique dynamics, both in terms of wildlife and local community, but we hope that our project can be implemented in other places. The most important part of the project for us was working with local community members and having the project be Participatory Action Research. The initial surveys were key to determining the best strategies for moving forward, and continuous dialogue between the local community, our team, and the relevant government agencies has been at the root of our success. Partnership and collaboration are also key aspects of our strategy. Empowering local community members to write proposals and secure funding was very important.

Overview