In the shadow of a lush and a thick biodiverse Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, surrounds a historically rich indigenous populations of Batwa community that were curved out of the park in 1991 to allow for sustainable conservation of mountain gorilla species. having lived in the area for generations without destroying the ecosystem, The Batwa, a group that has relied on the forest resources such as the bush meat, fish, harvested wild yams, wild honey and their ancestral sites were badly affected as their access to the forest immediately ended.
While there hope has been rekindled through interventions by different actors and through their fend for livelihoods through village guided walks, dance , story telling and an additional government incentive of Revenue sharing gained from the $10 from every gorilla permit and 20% gate collection from Gorilla tourist that is given to frontline communities in the park to support community livelihoods and manage compensation for wild life damage, empirical realities about community perceptions still lament that the practice of the Revenue Sharing as per the above measure is still deemed insufficient and barely addresses all the initial objectives of human livelihood improvement among communities . This could present another risk of pushing them to lay traps in protected park zones that incidentally injure mountain gorilla species.
To gear up more creative supplementary livelihoods efforts, in October 2024 the Environment Governance Institute in collaboration with Uganda wild Life Authority organised a training of selected Batwa and Bakiga communities mobilised from Buhoma subcounty that rests in one the most tourism predominant Bwindi sector in Kanungu district that reportedly receives a lot of tourists. The training empowered about 40 participants including reformed poacher, Batwa cultural leaders, tourism associations, women groups representatives and local Batwa dance groups.
Participants during the training in Buhoma
The training was part of the project “empowering communities for sustainable conservation of mountain Gorilla species in Bwindi” that is sponsored by IUCN Save Our Species. It aimed at equipping selected Bwindi communities with Gorilla edutainment skills, leveraging their capacity to identify and expand existing edutainment opportunities relevant for mountain Gorilla conservation and livelihood improvement.
While in the meeting, Mr Masereka Joshua, UWA conservation warden Kanungu district asserted “integrating key wildlife offences and penalties into dance and Drama” could create awareness to both communities about the law at same time foster community role and involvement in mountain Gorilla conservation.
Instantaneously, in the bid to showcase group practical demonstration of Gorilla Edutainment, EGI together with team of reformed poachers, UWA and dance group scripted a dance and drama role play empathising the dangers of illegal laying of traps that endanger mountain gorilla species. The script narrated all the steps the poacher goes to the forest, lays traps and end up being caught arrested and charged. The role play was accompanied by dance and chanting of a song from reformed poachers titled “Murekye Okuta emitego Omwihamba”, a rukiga local statement imploring communities to stop laying traps in the forest ultimately conserving mountain gorilla species.
reformed poacher dance group showcasing a dance and drama on how UWA ranger got poachers red handed in park
The training not only took a turn of dance and drama but also explored creative approaches through story telling. Interestingly, 56-year-old Batwa woman, kabuterena Joy, whose house was thatched and nestled within the V-shaped trunk of the tall indigenous species tree in Buhoma village Kanungu asserted, “These tourists like seeing us climb on top of our historical houses, therefore telling a story while we are up our indigenous nestled houses will appeal to tourists and earn us us more money”, creatively opined a mutwa lady of Buhoma village, Kanungu district.
mutwa lady, Kabureta Joy showcasing how story telling while in there Nestled thatched house on the tree
In the wake of all these practical suggestion and sites mapping to harness gorilla edutainment centres, EGI and UWA Bwindi envisaged that these approaches will not only present narrative of resilience and adaptation for the local indigenous communities but would as well gear up creative avenues to tap in tourism opportunities in the park.
Therefore, to foster long term conservation of mountain Gorilla species, EGI calls upon various Uganda wild life Authority, and all conservation actors in Bwindi to foster and reactivate more creative means through which frontline communities harness survival means from park that is supplementary to the perceived small revenue share, ultimately, this will navigate new reality to preserve their cultural identity and forged a path forward in a changing the long term conservation of mountain Gorilla species till perpetuity.
Blog story By John Peter Okwi, Programs Coordinator Environment Governance Institute
This publication was produced with the financial support of IUCN Save Our Species. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Environment Governance Institute and do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN
