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Friends of Conservation
Southcombe Business Centre
11-12 Southcombe Street
London W14 0RA
Tel: 020 7348 3408
Email: focinfo@aol.com |
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Conservation Issue
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The Kitomi Forest Reserve in Uganda is home to two of the most highly threatened mammalian species; the chimpanzee and the African elephant. Wildlife in the forest reserve is under constant threat, due to both an increase in poaching and the loss of habitat as human populations increase.
FOC has been
supporting the
'Elephant, Crops and
People' (ECP)
project in the Queen
Elizabeth National
Park, Uganda, for
four years. Michael
Keigwin, Director of
ECP recently formed
the Ugandan
Conservation
Foundation to help
raise funds for and
support wildlife
conservation across
Uganda. The Kitomi
Forest Reserve
project is one of
the first to receive
funds.
If you would like
to support this work
to protect the
wildlife in Uganda,
please click here.
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Wildlife
Kashoya – Kitomi Forest Reserve comes under the auspices of Uganda’s National Forestry Authority. Covering over 400 square kilometers, the rainforest is part of a network of protected areas around the Queen Elizabeth National Park, forming what is arguably the largest and most biodiverse region in Africa. |
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| Wildlife in the Kitomi reserve is under threat due to an increase in poaching, primarily to fuel the commercial bushmeat trade. Much of the hunting is carried out through snaring and the laying of jaw-traps. These are indiscriminate in what they catch and cause extreme pain, loss of blood, starvation and stress to those animals trapped in them. Due to a lack of funding, there is little or no law enforcement within the Reserve, enabling trap and snare laying to increase. Through our partners, the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF) we are delighted to be extending our support to this threatened habitat with a snare removal project. |
Read More... |
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Habitat
The Kitomi Forest Reserve in
the Albertine Rift Valley in
Uganda includes the important
water catchments areas of Lake
Edward and Lake George Basins. The
west side of the reserve connects
with other protected areas (with
varying degree of protection) that
eventually lead to the Queen
Elizabeth National Park and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo's
Parc Nationale des Virunga.
Together these form one of the
largest and most diverse remaining
networks of protected areas in
Africa. Through this project we
hope to protect the biodiversity
of the Kitomi Forest Reserve,
which is an integral part of these
protected areas.
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Community
The second phase of the project
will aim to build links with local
communities surrounding the
Reserve. Viable populations of
wildlife will only be able to
remain in the forest if
communities surrounding the
Reserve understand its
conservation need and benefit from
its existence.
Awareness raising and education
regarding the unsustainability of
hunting for the bushmeat trade
will be carried out in schools and
local communities. The field
assistants will also be used to
develop a series of schools
conservation education activities
within the Reserve.
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