Conservation importance of the Albertine Rift and the work of the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS)

2 Pages·2002·1.2 MB·

by  Laurent Ntahuga

Conservation importance of the Albertine Rift
and the work of the Albertine Rift
Conservation Society (ARCOS)
DrLaurentNtahiiga
LaSocietedeConservationduRiftAlbertin(AlbertineRiftConserx'ationSociety.ARCOS)aetecreeeen
1995 afin de promouvoir la protection de la nature dans les six pays de la region, le Burundi, la
RepubliqueDemocratiquedu Congo, le Rwanda, laTanzanie. I'Ugandaet la Zambie. parlebiaisd un
partenariatregionald’OrganisationsNon-Gouvernementales(ONGs).Lesactivitespresentesetpassees
de I’association sont presentees, ainsi que ses projets.
Introduction ARCOS mission and performances
T heAlbertine Riftextends forcl,500 km oversix TheAlbertineRiftCon,ser\ationSociety(ARCOS)was
countriesineasternandcentralAfrica, including established in 1995 as a regional NGO operating in
Burundi, the Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC), thesixAlbertineRiftcountriesmentionedabovewith
Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, from Lake a mi.ssion to enhance hiodirersityconserration and
Albert in the north to Lake Tanganyika in the south. sustainable useofnaturalresourcesoftheAlbertine
Theregionischaracterisedbyarichbiodiversityand Rift regio)i through thepromotion ofcoUahoratire
the high variety ofecosystems found there partially conservation action, airareness raising and
resultsfromtherangeofaltitudes,from770m(atLake biodiversity information exchange in the region.
Tanganyika) to 5,109 m (in the Ruwenzori Moun- ARCOS'smajorachievements ha\ebeen made in
tains). the promotion of a regional network consisting of
partners, partner organisations (NGOs. government
Conservation importance representatives, re.search in.stitutions, etc) and Focal
Despitethemarkedandever-increasingdegradation Pointswithinandoutsidetheriftregion.Theregional
of biodiversity in the region, the Albertine Rift still priority-setting workshop Promoting comminiity-
possesses an impressive variety ofanimal and plant hased conservation and regional information
species both within and outside protected areas. excluuigeinsupportofAlbertineRiftmontaneforests.
Furthermore, its forests, lakes and wetlands achieve facilitatedbyARCOS, was heldon 13-15July 1999in
thehighestscoreinAfricaintermsofendemism(see Kampala (Uganda) and contributed greatly towards
Table 1), and rank among the highest biodiversity consolidating collaboration among local consena-
hotspots for other taxa such as butterflies, primates tion organisations.
and plants. Moreover, Albertine Rift montane forests
are ecologically important for their role in local and
regional climate regulation, anti-erosion control and Table2.ARCOS Focal Points intheAlbertine Riftcountries
watershed protection for the two principal hydro-
Country Focalpoint’sname Organisation
logicbasinsofAfrica(theNileandCongobasins), as
wellasprovidingexistentialresourcesforlocalcom- 1 Burundi DrGaspardBikwemu Burundi-Nature
2 DRC DidierdeFaillys.j. (Sud-Kivu) BEST
munities.
Claude Sikubwabo (Nord-Kivu) VONA
3 Rwanda DrEmmanuelTwarabamenye ACNR
Table1.Albertine Riftoverallspeciesnumbersand endemism 4 Tanzania Alice Bukholi WCST
5 Uganda DrJuliusArinaitwe Nature Uganda
Class Speciesnumbers %Endemism 6 Zambia Mwape Sichilongo WCSZ
Mammals 224 14
Birds 712 5
With funding fromvarious sources, ARCOS has also
Reptiles 116 26
implemented a number ofprojects:
Amphibians 64 42
• Production ofa regional newsletter, which pub-
lishesarticlesfromacrosstheregioninabilingual
(English and French) format twice a year.
56-BullABC Vol9No 1 Conservation importance oftheAlbertineRift: Ntahiiga
• Visits to national focal organisations in Burundi, • Itombwe Forest Project follow-up proposal.
DRC, Rwanda, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda to • AlbertineRiftMontaneForest Conservation Sta-
develop theARGOS partnership andconsolidate tus: Challenges and Opportunities handbook to
the regional network. facilitatedecision-makingphase2.Thisisapolicy-
• Assessingbiologicalandsocio-economicknowl- targeted handbook and GD-ROM to guide
edge ofItombwe Forest and its surroundings. decision-making for the conservation and sus-
• Productionofkeymaterials,factsheets, atechni- tainable use ofAlbertine Rift montane forests.
calreportonConseivationStatusofAlbertineRift • Albertine RiftRegional Expertworkshoponspe-
MontaneForests: PreliminaryReview and other cies data and information sharing.
working documents. • ARGOS Second Biannual Forum.
• Developing a methodology and guidelines to • Gase studies on integrated conservation and de-
assessimpactsofarmedconflictsonAlbertineRift velopment in the Albertine Rift region.
biodiversity conservation. • Framework for biodiversity conservation plan-
ning and monitoring of Albertine Rift montane
Future activities forests.
The frameworkofactions forARGOS is described in
itsdocumententitledFirstSteps,whichalsoprovides The way forward
a review ofits 1995-1998 activities and a three-year Overthenexttwoyears, ARGOSwill needtodeploy
work plan for 1999-2002. The various events and considerable efforts on some ofthese issues, but of
project proposals for which funding is still being paramount importance are the development of a
sought are: Regional Biodiversity Information Gentre, further
• ARGOS core activities for biodiversity conserva- projects,andfund-raisingstrategyandtechniques,
tion intheAlbertine Rift, phase 2. ARCOSRegional Coordinator, Kampala, Uganda.
^ Supported by ABC ConservationFund
Conservation importance oftheAlbertineRift: Ntahiiga BullABC Vol9No 1-57