Uganda Communities Plant Trees to Protect Bwindi’s Mountain Gorillas

Community groups near Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park are planting trees to reduce pressure on the forest and help safeguard the habitat of mountain gorillas.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority is working with residents to improve relations around the park and address tree loss linked to medicinal use, firewood and materials for local crafts. The effort includes providing communities with medicinal and other useful tree species so they can access resources without entering the protected forest.

Reducing pressure on the forest

Joseph Muhindo, an assistant tourism and hospitality officer with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, said the supply of seedlings is intended to limit encroachment into the park.

“We are looking at this as also curbing encroachment activities,” Muhindo said, explaining that communities seeking herbal medicine should be able to obtain suitable trees without going into the park.

He said the initiative provides species that people can harvest within their communities, helping avoid damage to the habitat of the endangered gorillas and supporting the area’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in south-western Uganda, is home to about 450 mountain gorillas, described as almost half of the world’s remaining population. The park’s gorilla population has increased in recent years, while deforestation around its edges remains a challenge for biodiversity and access to forest resources.

Local groups and schools involved

Christina Katushabe, founder of Change a Life, is supporting the donation of valuable tree species to communities outside the park. She has also extended her tree-planting campaign to schools, where young people are taught about conservation.

Katushabe said planting indigenous trees outside the park can strengthen biodiversity and provide additional habitat and food for wildlife, including mountain gorillas.

She credited the Batwa people she works with for helping identify trees that are most useful to local communities. These include species needed for medicine, timber and firewood, as well as trees that support broader ecological restoration.

Students at Ruhija Seed Secondary School have planted trees near the boundaries of the Bwindi forest. Davis, a 20-year-old student, said the work was intended to help protect the forest while bringing tree-related benefits closer to residents.

“We are going to protect the forest, so that our gorillas can stay well,” he said. “That is why we have planted these trees, to stop us from cutting the forest.”

Owembabazi Eunice, a member of a women’s group that produces crafts for tourists, said the group had planted grey goosefoot, locally known as “Amakwatangwe,” as well as eucalyptus near the park. She said the aim was to reduce conflict between the needs of people and the protection of gorilla habitat.

Conservation linked to tourism

Tourism has become an important source of funding for communities around Bwindi and has created economic incentives to protect the gorillas. Visitors pay permit fees to see habituated gorilla groups in their natural environment, while local women sell craft products made from natural resources to tourists.

Wildlife authorities report that cooperation with nearby communities has accompanied declines in habitat encroachment and poaching, although the source provides no figures or measurement period for those changes.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the mountain gorilla as endangered, an improvement from its earlier classification as critically endangered. Conservation efforts around Bwindi are therefore combining protection inside the park with tree planting and resource access outside it.