The Uganda Atlas

NEMA 2008

Dawn at the Mt. Elgon Ranges (2008)

Mt. Elgon Benet Area

A number of forest dwellers still live in the park. They are primarily pastoralists, practising subsistence agriculture in gardens next to their houses. Prior to cultivation, the areas are burnt and cow dung is added to the soil to fertilise it. The gardens are then planted for two or three years. The high altitude prohibits the production of maize, but potatoes ( Solanum tuberosum ) and matoke ( Musa sapientum ) are widely grown. When the evictions occurred, many of these gardens and grazing areas around them were abandoned. Immediately after the 1990 evictions the forest was lacking the dense shrub layer characteristic of East African upper montane forests (Richards, 1996) and extensive areas of top-soil were exposed due to the activity of cattle (Katende, A. pers. comm.). The current pastoralists concentrate grazing activity on the Benet grasslands which meander through the forest at an altitude of approximately 2,500 - 2,800 m. It is not certain whether the Benet grasslands have always been open grassy areas (van Heist, 1994) but they are maintained as artificial climax by heavy grazing. A number of cattle graze in the forest, but they are fewer in number than before the evictions. Although the Ndorobos live illegally in the area they are tolerated by the National Park authorites who are currently deciding whether to relocate them.

The current aim of the project is to “promote community development and conserve Mount Elgon’s ecosystem for present and future use” using a “community based resource management approach” involving the participation and empowerment of local communities in the development process (MECDP, 1995). Working in conjunction with MENP, park regulations have been formulated with reference to the needs of local people and their resource use levels, and enforced in conjunction with a comprehensive extension programme. Collaborative management was piloted in two parishes, with the aim of extending it to all forest-adjacent parishes before the project ends in 2000. carried out a biodiversity inventory for woody perennials and birds. A Land Mapping and Biodiversity Survey of Mount Elgon National Park was carried out in 1993 to assist the development of a long term management plan (van Heist, 1994). The survey described numerous aspects of the mountain with an emphasis on plant biodiversity. A “resource use assessment” was commissioned for the same purpose detailing resource use by people groups across the mountain through a series of semi-structured interviews and group discussions (Scott, 1994). IUCN have commissioned a number of resource inventories and assessments. Katende et al. (1990)

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