Human-Wildlife Conflict Resilience Fund II

Project details

  • Jane Goodall Institute
  • Kiziranfumbi Sub County, Kidoma Parish, Bulimia, Kanyegaramire, Kidoma, Kihiigwa East, Kihiigwa West, Kihohoro, Kyakatemba, Nyamigogo, Rusaka, Rwamusaga, and Wambabya Villages.
  • Biodiversity Conservation, Enhancing Resilience Amidst Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC)
  • August 31st, 2019

Project Goal

To enhance resilience to community losses from wildlife incursions through development of local
and regional compensation schemes as one of the incentive measures for community long-term
engagement in sustainable natural resource management.

Objectives

  • Establish an institutional framework for district/regional level governance of Human-Wildlife Conflict management
  • Scale-out the Human-Wildlife Conflict Resilience Fund Model to other hotspot areas within the Albertine Rift region.

Problem statement.

The increasing fragmentation of forest alluded to increasing human population and poverty in the Albertine Rift landscape is reducing connectivity between forest reserves and threatening the long-term viability of chimpanzees and other wildlife. Without connectivity the remaining populations once isolated will not be genetically viable and thus over time, will continue to decline. The key drivers of deforestation are a vicious cycle of conversion of forest to farmland for subsistence and commercial agriculture by the community and private sector that amplifies human-wildlife conflict with incidences of wildlife crop damage and attacks on humans, including child fatalities attributed to wildlife; and the resultant Human Wildlife Conflict then drives further clearing of forests as a control mechanism.

In a bid to scale-out and entrench the HWC model, a coordination structure is required to steer the process of expansion as well as to provide supervisory oversight to established HWC Resilience Fund CBOs. The final evaluation of the HWC Resilience Fund pilot project highlighted key gaps in its vertical integration Inefficient linkages with District Local Government, lack of a [system] at district level to coordinate conservation activities, no clear road map for involvement of Local Government in sustainability of community structures. There is also lack a monitoring and accountability oversight since Kasongoire Community Development Association (KACODA) – the CBO that oversees the established Resilience Fund – has no independent supervisory structure beyond its management committee.