Uganda is one of the richest countries in Africa for biodiversity conservation, ranking second richest for mammals (and 13th in the World), second for birds, and seventh for higher plants. This is because several major Biomes meet here, each with their associated fauna and flora. Uganda is also home to several species whose global range is mostly confined to Uganda, such as mountain gorillas, Rothschild giraffe, Uganda mangabey, and Nahan’s francolin. Therefore, to protect these populations from further decline, our on-the-ground safeguard involves training rangers and the local communities with the rightful knowledge and skills necessary for wildlife conservation. Wildlife must survive in their natural habitats, so we empower local communities through conservation-friendly development and work with other stakeholders to protect Africa’s natural resources.

Critical to protecting these vital ecosystems are people. While sharing land with the wildlife, communities often suffer from wildlife-human conflicts leading to struggles for space and water. Human-wildlife conflict poses major threats to the well-being of both humans and animals. Crop-raiding by elephants can be devastating for small farmers, leading to food insecurity, lost opportunity costs, and even death. Crop-raiding and property damage can also result in negative attitudes towards elephant conservation and retaliatory killings of elephants. If people and wildlife learn to live together — inside and outside of protected areas — the future for all will thrive. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure the survival of these species, and to educate people on living sustainably with other species.

The raiding of crops and grain stores by elephants devastates subsistence farmers, who retaliate by spearing, snaring, or poisoning elephants and chimpanzees. Such conflict between elephants, chimpanzees and people is widespread across the Kahang village a rural community adjacent to Kahangi National Park near Fort Portal city in western Uganda.  Kahangi village is in what is called a buffer zone or wildlife management area North of Kibale National Park. Households in Kahangi village, many of whom are subsistence farmers that depend on their small gardens for income, have not been an exception. Their biggest threats are the elephants and chimpanzees. Because there are no fences around Ugandan parks, this area is where wildlife and humans often converge. Conflicts between them are common.

Elephants, chimpanzees, baboons, Bush Pigs, and monkeys are fairly regular visitors in the Kahangi community, lured by water, bananas, maize, and other food crops which are grown in the area by the villagers. These wildlife cause intensive crop damage and frequently attack both humans and their cattle. This understandably makes the villagers less tolerant of wildlife. They often resorted to poisoning them. There is little incentive to look after the wildlife because community members do not financially benefit from the tourism business wildlife attracts. And their means of livelihood is undermined by that same wildlife.

We also need to note that the communities around Kahangi village still cook using solid fuels (such as wood, crop wastes, charcoal, coal and dung) and kerosene in open fires and inefficient stoves. This releases harmful pollutants into the air which can cause health problems such as stroke, heart disease, and lung cancer.  Along with these health concerns, cooking over wood fires is also harmful to the environment. The Kahangi community source or collect all their firewood by cutting the trees around the park which of course depletes local forest resources and also exposes them to the wildlife. At the same time burning firewood releases high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, Charcoal burning and firewood fuel biomass utilization is thought to be one of the main causes of deforestation around the Kahangi village.

Relying on wood fuel also places an extra burden on women who are typically responsible for gathering and cooking over it. The more time that women spend collecting wood and cooking, the less time they have for education, work, or socializing with their family. At the same time, many families in Kahangi village raise livestock and struggle to dispose of their herd’s waste in a hygienic manner. This coupled with poor sanitation leads to diseases, such as diarrhoea. Additionally, the cow or pig dung releases harmful methane emissions as it breaks down.

Therefore the Wildlife & Biodiversity Conservation Volunteering Program focuses on providing solutions to the above mentioned situation through the following methods:

• Do data research to better understand the movements and behaviours of the animals to aid management decisions of the park, reduce poaching rates to protect the animals, and help the local community to access sustainable employment and incomes which rely upon the conservation of the area’s amazing wildlife and habitats.  Create community environmental awareness and education workshops, and local capacity building initiates to facilitate access to tourism industry which relies upon continued conservation of species and habitats. The data collected also goes to the rangers and researchers, who work to identify the issues and threats, surrounding wildlife in Kibale National Park. All this in an effort to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and create a sustainable future for all with a goal is to reduce human-elephant conflicts, which is an on-going threat to both the communities around Kahangi village and the elephants.
• We are working closely with local communities around Kahangi village adjacent Kibale National Park to devise a nature-based solution to human-elephant conflict to reduce elephant crop raids by helping farmers build beehive fences that discourage elephants. Project team members plant regenerating trees, such as Commiphora, as posts and suspend beehives between them. The trees and hives are linked by wire to form fences. When elephants strike the hives or the wires that connect them, the hives swing and bees come out buzzing, scaring the elephants away. As a defence mechanism, the swarm of bees will sting the elephant forcing it to retreat to the park. Using trees instead of wood posts creates a long-term solution because trees provide natural shade and support for beehives. Elephants avoid foraging in trees that contained beehives. Beehive fences—surrounding crops fields with beehives attached to fence posts and strung together with wires serve as a humane and eco-friendly way to protect crops from elephants. In addition to humanely deterring elephants from entering farms, bees provide pollination services (which could increase crop yields) and honey and beeswax (which farmers can sell to diversify their income). And also we found that even long-term use of beehive fences does not seem to negatively impact wild bee diversity. It also reduces pressure on natural resources by actively supporting biodiversity, thereby encouraging the conservation of the environment within Kibala National Park and further promotes pollination and the reduction of poaching on the park by providing alternative income sources, ultimately conserving local biodiversity. The bee fences have also provided some farmers with new source of income by selling honey which can add $50 to $200 to a family’s income per harvest, which usually occurs twice a year.
• Construct and install dome biogas digesters for individual rural families in Kahangi village. These digesters convert the animal waste into biogas – a much cleaner, renewable fuel source. The biogas will then be piped into households where families can use it for cooking and lighting. Because families are able to use the manure produced by their own cows or pigs to feed the digesters, the biogas is a highly affordable energy source. Along with biogas, the digesters will produce bio-slurry, which is the remaining treated animal waste. Normally, rural households use the raw manure obtained from their animals as a form of plant fertilizer, but this has lower organic nitrogen content than the slurry created by the biogas digestion process which is odourless, and makes a better fertilizer. This bio-slurry is rich in nutrients and will be used by farmers to fertilize their fields and increase their crop yields. This will reduce the need for harmful chemical fertilizers. Because the bio-slurry has been hygienically treated, the project also helps prevent diseases caused by poor animal waste management.  The use of biogas also will cut down the amount of time that women spend on tasks like collecting wood, cooking over the fires, and cleaning soot off of their pots and pans. It will also cut down the use of firewood for fuel and hence promote the biodiversity and environmental conservation. Therefore the construction and install dome biogas digesters can play a pivotal role in integrated farming systems by reducing health risks, facilitating control of pollution and at the same time adding value to livestock excreta through production of biogas and improved nutrient status of the effluent as fertilizer for ponds and crop land. Biogas offers a cheap, renewable and viable solution to the problem of providing energy to rural communities and farmers and also has the merit of using waste that has been traditionally regarded as useless, as the feedstock.

What will I be doing?

As conservation enthusiast volunteer, this is where the volunteers come in –

• The Volunteers will work alongside the local villager to help with the construction of bio gas digester for local families. The volunteers will be assigned to help with the soft labor work on the project while the villagers will be digging of the biogas dome, mixing of cement, sand, concrete and brick laying, piping etc…
• As conservation enthusiast volunteer, this is where the volunteers come in – The volunteer will work alongside the local villagers to manufacture local and modern hives Kenya Top Bar (KTB) hives.  KTB hives which of course have the advantage that farmers can harvest honey and other bee products from them without destroying the hives or severely disturbing the bee colonies, unlike some older methods.
• Help in implementing beehive fences to deter elephants from crossing to communities.
• Train the community in biodiversity and conservation through improved beekeeping techniques including Kenyan Top Bar Hive construction, hive baiting, apiary selection and management, harvesting, value added processing and record keeping.
• Provide technical support in apiculture, agriculture, organic farm work and planting of trees
• The expedition volunteer will mainly assist in species surveying, data collection and research which will be led by a local qualified scientist on impact of wildlife diseases that could be transmitted by the wildlife to human and their livestock interface and how can they be prevented and controlled to maintain healthy ecosystems and viable wildlife populations.
• You will be conducting vital research and collecting important data, as you learn how to monitor some of Africa’s most iconic and precious species, including the world-renowned ‘Chimpanzees.’ All the data that you collect is critical for helping to conserve these rapidly declining species.
• You will play an important role to ensure the success of our conservation efforts, as well as collecting useful research. Take part in chimpanzee tracking through the Kibala National and discover the African bush from an angle like no other.

You will gain valuable knowledge and skills, as you learn from our team of experts about animal movements and behaviour of elephants herds, baboons, monkeys and chimpanzees, as well as many other exquisite species. All the data collected on these wild, yet vulnerable animals contribute towards enabling Justice Tourism Foundation to protect and conserve them.

 What is the project impact on the community?

Kahangi village is in what is called a buffer zone or wildlife management area north of the Kibale National Park where both human and wildlife converge on a daily basis causing wildlife-human conflicts leading to struggles for space and water. The project will therefore provide humans with oxygen and also boost wildlife by providing shelter and food to the animals and will enhances agricultural production for the communities around Kahangi village.