Protected areas

Mountains are special places. For many they are sacred; to most they bring an uplifting of the spirit and refreshment; to all they bring water, and rich biodiversity. Many of them have received legislative recognition by designation as parks or reserves of various kinds, and it is for the planners and managers of this estate that this book has been written.

There is increasing recognition of the value that local, indigenous and mobile communities can bring to the process of conserving biodiversity, and of the need for a range of conservation types from strict protection to multiple sustainable use. Such a paradigm shift is reflected in the outcomes of two recent global events: the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, September 2003) and the 7th Conference of Parties of the Convention of Biological Diversity (Kuala Lumpur, February 2004).

This book describes the 12 years of Kibale and Semliki Conservation and Development Project, and how in the project’s early days conservation and development activities tended to be separate and discrete activities. With lesson learning the project gradually became more integrated in terms of linking livelihood activities such as tree planting, bee keeping, improved agricultural practice, with conservation interventions (protected area management, and problem animal management).