The Impact of Conflict in Northern Uganda on the Environment and Natural Resource Management
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT IN NORTHERN UGANDA ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Internally Displaced Peoples Camp in Northern Uganda- G.Picton-Phillipps Simon Nampindo, Guy Picton Phillipps and Andrew Plumptre With input from Richard Lamprey (EU), Aggrey Rwetsiba (UWA), CD Langoya (NFA) and David Moyer (WCS) August, 2005 Table of contents LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................................................ 5 LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................ 6 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS............................................................................................................... 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................................................... 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER ONE................................................................................................................................................. 12 1.0 THE CONFLICT IN NORTHERN UGANDA AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT .......................................................................................................................................................................... 12 1.1 BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................................................... 12 1.2 HISTORY OF THE WAR IN NORTHERN UGANDA ................................................................................... 12 1.2.1 Causes and impacts of the conflict ................................................................................................ 13 1.3. OBJECTIVES OF THIS ASSESSMENT ...................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER TWO............................................................................................................................................. 16 2.0 BIODIVERSITY SURVEYS IN NORTHERN UGANDA .............................................................. 16 2.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE EXISTING PROTECTED AREAS IN UGANDA ............................. 16 2.1.1. National parks and Wildlife Reserves.......................................................................................... 16 2.1.2. Elephant populations and migrations.......................................................................................... 17 2.1.3. Forest Reserves ............................................................................................................................... 18 2.2 VEGETATION MAPPING IN UGANDA...................................................................................................... 19 2.3. Uganda Wildlife Authority Large Mammal Surveys ..................................................................... 21 2.4 FOREST DEPARTMENT BIODIVERSITY SURVEYS ................................................................................ 22 2.4.1 Current Status of forests in northern Uganda ............................................................................. 25 2.5. MAKERERE UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES SURVEYS 25 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................................................ 28 3.0 WOODY COVER CHANGES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE PROTECTED AREAS ....................... 28 3.1 REMOTE SENSING AND GIS ANALYSIS................................................................................................. 28 3.1.1 Aerial survey..................................................................................................................................... 29 3.1.2 Laboratory Analysis of satellite imagery...................................................................................... 30 3.2 WOODY COVER CHANGES IN NORTHERN UGANDA............................................................................ 31 3.2.1 Woody cover changes in the districts of northern Uganda........................................................ 32 3.2.2 Woody cover change in Central and Local Forest Reserves..................................................... 33 3.2.3 Woody cover changes in Parks and Wildlife Reserves ............................................................... 35 3.2.4 Woody cover changes in potential corridor sites ........................................................................ 37 3.2.5 Woody cover change around main urban centres (Gulu, Kitgum and Lira Towns) .............. 37 3.3 CONCLUSIONS OF THE ASSESSMENT OF WOODY COVER CHANGES .................................................. 40 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................................... 41 4.0 CONSERVATION OF LANDSCAPES AND TRANSBOUNDARY PEACE PARKS............. 41 4.1. LANDSCAPES OF NORTHERN UGANDA ................................................................................................ 41 4.2. TRANSBOUNDARY NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PEACE PARKS .............................. 41 4.3 POTENTIAL PEACE PARKS IN NORTHERN UGANDA............................................................................ 42 4.3.1 Imatong massif Peace Park ............................................................................................................ 42 4.3.2 Greater Kidepo Peace Park ........................................................................................................... 43 4.3.3 Otzi-Nimule Peace Park.................................................................................................................. 44 4.4 ELEMENTS AND PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING PEACE PARKS .............................................................. 45 CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................................................. 47 5.0 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION OPTIONS FOR NORTHERN UGANDA .............................................................................................................................. 47 5.1. NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OUTSIDE CONSERVATION AREAS ........................................ 47 5.1.1. Increasing woody biomass for fuel and building needs in areas of low availability ............ 48 2 5.1.2. Promoting sustainable management of woody biomass............................................................ 50 5.1.3. Soil conservation and Watershed management.......................................................................... 50 5.2 CONSERVATION OF PROTECTED AREAS AND LANDSCAPES.............................................................. 51 5.2.1. Key conservation areas and options for new sites ..................................................................... 51 5.2.2. Threats to the protected areas in northern Uganda .................................................................. 51 5.2.3. Management needs to rehabilitate the protected areas............................................................. 52 5.2.4. Conservation of the East Madi-Murchison Falls corridor ....................................................... 52 5.2.5 Transboundary Conservation and options for Peace Parks...................................................... 53 5.3 CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ZONING MAP FOR NORTHERN UGANDA.......................................................................................................................................................... 53 5.4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................ 54 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................. 56 3 List of Tables Table 2.1 The main vegetation classes represented in the wildlife and forestry protected areas of northern Uganda.......................................................................................................................................................... 20 Table 2.2 Plant communities with no block of habitat greater than100 sq.km inside NPs, WRs and FRs and less than 200 sq. km protected in total in Uganda.. ............................................................................................. 21 Table 2.3 Biodiversity score based on the ranking of forests using data from five taxa on total species richness, endemic species and species unique in Uganda to those forests................................................................... 24 Table 2.4 Numbers of species recorded in Karamoja compared with Uganda’s total species richness................ 25 Table 2.5 Biodiversity of conservation value in the protected areas of northern Uganda .................................... 27 Table 3.1 Woody Cover change (1985-2002) by district in northern Uganda...................................................... 33 Table 3.2 Woody Cover change (1985-2002) in Parks and Wildlife Reserves of