Uganda; Sustainable Tourism

Summary

The video highlights a 6-year project in Uganda, focusing on sustainable tourism to support rural livelihoods. It explores the impact of deforestation on wildlife and how eco-tourism helps conservation efforts by generating income for local communities. The project includes initiatives like a community tented camp in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, supporting gorilla tourism, beekeeping, and craft production. It also emphasizes the importance of community involvement, environmental education, and creating income streams while conserving Uganda’s rich biodiversity, especially its primate and bird populations.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Uganda's main industries are agriculture and tourism, with sustainable tourism being a growing focus to enhance rural livelihoods.
• 🌳 Deforestation has had a significant impact on Uganda’s environment, affecting weather patterns, wildlife, and local communities.
• 🐒 Conservation efforts aim to generate income from wildlife to support local communities and encourage wildlife preservation.
• 🦍 The Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp was developed to support tourism and provide income to local people, with 20% of the camp's ownership benefiting the community.
• 🏕 Community projects like tented camps provide sustainable income sources for rural areas, and have spurred further local development like trails and beekeeping initiatives.
• 👩‍👧‍👦 Local groups such as the Ruhija Orphans and Needy Children's Group are benefiting from tourism, providing entertainment and receiving donations from visitors.
• 🎁 Tourists are driving collateral development, such as local shops and craft sales, with the income remaining in the community, boosting local economies.
• 🍃 Wildlife-based tourism helps communities tolerate the challenges posed by wildlife, as their livelihood becomes dependent on wildlife-related tourism.
• 💡 Education and capacity-building are essential, as some communities struggle with language barriers and lack of infrastructure for tourism, but progress is being made through partnerships.
• 🐦 Uganda has significant potential as a bird-watching destination, with over 1,100 bird species, but it needs better marketing to attract more nature tourists.

Q & A

What is the main goal of the CITA project in Uganda?

The CITA project in Uganda aims to enhance rural livelihoods by promoting sustainable tourism, with a focus on using Uganda’s wildlife capital to generate income and support conservation efforts.

Why is tourism important for Uganda, according to the transcript?

Tourism is important for Uganda because it is the second-largest industry after agriculture. It provides income for local communities and supports conservation efforts by creating economic incentives to protect wildlife and natural habitats.

What environmental challenges are highlighted in the transcript?

The transcript highlights deforestation as a major environmental challenge in Uganda. This deforestation is leading to climate changes, including shifts in the rainy seasons, and is also threatening wildlife by reducing their natural habitats.

What is the Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp, and why is it significant?

The Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp is a community-owned tented camp developed as part of the sustainable tourism initiative. It is significant because it directly involves the community, allowing them to benefit financially from tourism while promoting conservation of the local gorilla population.

How has tourism positively impacted the Ruhija community?

Tourism has positively impacted the Ruhija community by providing income through the Gorilla Friends Tented Camp. It has also led to the development of community infrastructure, such as water tanks and trails, and has fostered a sense of ownership and support for conservation efforts.

What challenges does the Katanguru community face in developing tourism initiatives?

The Katanguru community faces challenges in developing tourism initiatives due to low educational levels and a lack of English speakers, making it difficult for them to engage with international tourists. They are working on a hostel for Ugandan school children visiting the park as a more feasible project.

What role do women play in the tourism and conservation efforts in Uganda?

Women play a crucial role in the tourism and conservation efforts, particularly through craft development groups. For example, Margaret in Kibale has organized over 250 women to produce crafts for sale in zoos across North America, generating income and supporting local conservation.

How does the tourism initiative help reduce conflicts between local communities and wildlife?

The tourism initiative helps reduce conflicts by providing income to local communities from wildlife-related tourism. This encourages people to tolerate wildlife, even when it causes damage to crops, because they see the economic benefits of protecting these animals.

Why is Uganda considered a potential birding destination, according to the transcript?

Uganda is considered a potential birding destination because it has over 1,100 species of birds, which makes it an attractive spot for bird watchers. However, the transcript suggests that Uganda has not fully capitalized on this opportunity in terms of marketing itself as a birding destination.

What are some examples of downstream benefits created by tourism in Ruhija?

Examples of downstream benefits include the development of community trails, the creation of supply chains for food and goods, and the establishment of gift shops. These developments provide additional income to community members who are not directly involved in the tented camp.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Enhancing Livelihoods Through Sustainable Tourism in Uganda

This section introduces the video, focusing on sustainable tourism efforts in Uganda. A key project by the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, is aimed at improving rural livelihoods. The speaker highlights the challenges posed by deforestation and its impact on weather patterns, wildlife, and local communities. The goal is to generate income through wildlife tourism while ensuring local populations benefit, addressing the imbalance where the West benefits from conservation while local communities bear the cost.

05:01

🏕 Community-Led Tourism Initiatives in Ruhija

The second paragraph covers the development of the Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp, a community-driven project in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Initially, local accommodations were unsuitable for tourists, but familiarization tours helped the community understand tourist preferences. The camp's success has led to rapid growth, with visitor numbers increasing from 24 in its first year to 314 by 2010. The project generates significant income for the community, helping to reinvest in the camp and fund local initiatives.

10:02

🌱 Supporting Local Economies Through Wildlife Tourism

This section highlights the wider economic benefits of tourism in Ruhija, including the development of supply chains for food and goods. The camp has helped support beekeeping and bird guide training. Community members not directly involved with the camp are benefiting from tourism-related economic activities. The text also introduces a local orphan initiative led by a woman named Happy, where tourists support orphaned and needy children in the community.

17:23

🛶 Promoting Sustainable Tourism in Fishing Communities

The focus shifts to Katanguru, a fishing community on the border of Queen Elizabeth National Park, where low education levels hinder tourism development. Despite challenges, the women of the community have decided to turn a former quarry into a hostel for Ugandan school children visiting the park. The initiative supports both local tourism and environmental education, helping young Ugandans develop an appreciation for their country's natural heritage.

22:34

📈 Uganda's Growing Tourism Industry and Future Potential

The final paragraph discusses Uganda's tourism growth, from a troubled image due to past political issues to becoming one of Africa's safest destinations. Uganda has seen an increase in tourist numbers, but most are volunteers rather than nature-based tourists. The speaker emphasizes the country's untapped potential, particularly in birding tourism, as Uganda is home to over 1,100 bird species. Promoting birdwatching could attract more tourists and generate significant income for the country.

Keywords

💡Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable tourism refers to the development of tourism that respects the environment, conserves natural resources, and benefits local communities. In the video, the speaker explains how tourism in Uganda, particularly through initiatives like the Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp, is designed to provide income for local people while also supporting wildlife conservation. This concept is central to the video's message of balancing tourism growth with environmental preservation.

💡Rural Livelihoods

Rural livelihoods pertain to the means of living for people in rural areas, often centered around agriculture, natural resource use, and small-scale businesses. In the video, the narrator discusses efforts to improve rural livelihoods in Uganda through sustainable tourism, offering local communities new sources of income that rely on protecting their environment and wildlife rather than depleting them.

💡Deforestation

Deforestation is the large-scale removal of forests, often to make way for agricultural land or development. The video highlights the rapid deforestation in Uganda, which has led to changes in climate patterns and reduced wildlife habitats. The narrator mentions how entire swaths of primary rainforest have been cleared between Mubende and Fort Portal, impacting both the environment and local livelihoods.

💡Wildlife Conservation

Wildlife conservation involves protecting species and their habitats to prevent extinction and biodiversity loss. The video emphasizes the importance of wildlife conservation in Uganda, particularly by promoting eco-tourism projects that offer communities an incentive to preserve their natural environment, such as through gorilla tourism in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

💡Gorilla Tourism

Gorilla tourism refers to the practice of attracting tourists to view gorillas in their natural habitat. In Uganda, gorilla tourism is a key example of sustainable tourism, helping to generate income for local communities while supporting conservation efforts. The video describes how Ruhija was opened for gorilla tourism, creating new economic opportunities for the community.

💡Community-Based Tourism

Community-based tourism is a form of tourism that is managed and operated by local communities, allowing them to benefit directly from the income generated. The video showcases how the Ruhija community was involved in creating and managing the Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp, with 20% of the camp’s ownership going back to the local population to fund further community projects.

💡Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is a government agency responsible for the management and conservation of Uganda's wildlife. In the video, UWA is mentioned as a key partner in promoting sustainable tourism by opening new areas, such as Ruhija, for gorilla tourism. Their involvement is essential for balancing the protection of wildlife with the needs of local communities.

💡Income Distribution

Income distribution in this context refers to the way profits from tourism are shared between communities, organizations, and governments. The video discusses how the economic benefits of tourism in Uganda, especially from wildlife-related activities, are often unevenly distributed, with local farmers bearing the costs of conservation. Projects like the Gorilla Friends Rest Camp aim to address this by ensuring local communities retain a share of the income generated.

💡Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. The video centers around ecotourism initiatives in Uganda, where communities are encouraged to protect wildlife habitats and forests because tourists come to see them, thus linking environmental conservation with economic development.

💡Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to the variety of plant and animal species in a particular habitat. Uganda is highlighted in the video as a country rich in biodiversity, especially in places like Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Kibale National Park, home to diverse species including gorillas and primates. The protection of this biodiversity is tied to sustainable tourism efforts, as wildlife is a major draw for international visitors.

Highlights

The project in Uganda focuses on enhancing rural livelihoods through sustainable tourism, emphasizing the importance of generating income from wildlife and supporting conservation initiatives.

Uganda faces a significant issue of deforestation, which has led to changes in weather patterns and impacted the livelihoods of local communities.

Sustainable tourism aims to balance wildlife conservation with the livelihoods of local communities, highlighting the importance of providing income from tourism activities to support conservation efforts.

The Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp was established as a community project in partnership with the local community, with 20% ownership belonging to the community to fund other local initiatives.

Tourism has created opportunities for community members to engage in providing hospitality and accommodation to tourists, such as through tented camps that cater to tourists visiting gorillas.

The Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp quickly showed positive results, attracting more visitors each year and generating substantial income for the local community.

Tourism initiatives have led to the development of other economic activities within the community, including the establishment of food supply chains, gift shops, and community trails.

The Ruhija Orphans and Needy Children's Group provides entertainment for tourists, generating income to support orphans and needy children in the community.

The community has demonstrated ownership and planning of tourism development, which helps prevent outsiders from taking over and ensures that the income generated remains within the local area.

In Kibale National Park, communities are learning to tolerate wildlife due to the income generated from tourism, even though primates often raid crops.

Margaret, a strong community leader in Kibale, has organized over 250 women into craft development groups, producing crafts for sale, contributing to their livelihoods.

The tourism project emphasizes practical training and capacity-building for students in Uganda, with master's and Ph.D. students working directly with communities to develop tourism products.

Uganda has experienced a significant increase in tourism, with about 800,000 to 900,000 tourists visiting in 2011, marking a tenfold increase since the late 1990s.

Despite its potential, Uganda is not fully capitalizing on its birding tourism industry, even though it boasts over 1,100 species of birds.

Sustainable tourism in Uganda is helping to change the global perception of the country, showcasing it as a safe and welcoming destination with rich biodiversity and cultural experiences.

Transcripts

Welcome to Uganda.

[drums play; people sing in Ugandan language]

♫

♫

♫

♫

(woman) Production funding is provided

by the Natural Resources Institute

at the University of Manitoba through a UPCD grant

from Canadian International Development Agency and AUCC,

and by the members of Prairie Public

I'm currently wrapping up a 6-year CITA Project in Uganda,

where we're working to enhance rural livelihoods

with sustainable tourism.

Agriculture has always been the number one industry in Uganda,

but tourism is a very close number two.

The concept is that by providing incomes

based on the wildlife capital of Uganda,

local people will generate income and therefore,

support conservation initiatives in the country.

Since I've been coming to Uganda, I've been able

to witness a significant amount of deforestation.

Certainly my first trip here, I remember seeing

primary rainforest almost, almost all the way

from Mubende to Fort Portal.

On my most recent trip,

pretty much all of that primary rainforest

is gone and turned over to cropland.

Now, I can't speak for how far beyond the road that extends,

but it certainly extends as far as the eye can see,

and it seems to be having

a significant effect on the weather,

the climate, it seems to be the rainy seasons have changed,

people are saying it's hotter, they can't count on the rains,

and it's having significant impact

on people's livelihoods as well.

To think about how much rainforest this country's lost,

and how many wildlife have disappeared as a result of it

and the threat that it puts on the wildlife that remains,

because essentially they're now contained within

small islands of habitat that they can't really escape from.

As soon as they leave those islands of habitat,

they're on cropland and they may be killed as pests.

So it creates very strong stresses

on the wildlife populations.

So generating income from wildlife

and showing that wildlife can help people

improve their standard of living is really important.

But it is really important that the local people benefit.

I mean this, there's a real inequitable distribution of costs

and benefits when we talk about wildlife conservation globally.

Typically the benefits are accrued in a very general sense

to the Western world where we want to save the rainforest,

where we want to see wildlife species preserved forever.

And yet the costs of preserving them are absorbed locally

by the farmers and the small-scale individuals

in these developing countries, as it sometimes limits

their ability to develop and do what they want to do.

We currently have 3 community projects.

They're in various stages of development.

The first community that we defined the project for was

Ruhija in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

We were actually doing an analysis in Winnipeg,

trying to determine which communities we were

going to be working with, when we received a phone call

from Uganda Wildlife Authority letting us know that Ruhija

was going to be opened up for gorilla tourism.

It's really quite an exciting opportunity,

really, nothing quite like it.

I think it's really important that people think, you know,

why am I paying this amount of money to see gorillas?

Well, there's really, there's one gorilla on the planet

for every ten million human beings,

just to give people a sense of how rare they actually are.

Ruhija had previously not had any tourists

other than a few birders coming through.

Tourists didn't stay there, and we knew that once gorillas

were habituated in the area and tourists started coming,

there'd be a bit of a land rush.

So we immediately engaged the community saying

what is it you'd like to do as a tourism initiative?

And through a process of a number of community meetings,

group workshops, we came to the concept

that the first thing we would fund

would be a community-tented camp.

The largest is the Ruhija Gorilla Friends Community Rest Camp,

which was the first one to be funded.

As a condition of funding, 20% ownership

of the Gorilla Friends Tented Camp

belongs to the community at large to help fund

other initiatives in the community.

When we first engaged the community,

and the discussion came up that they wanted

to provide hospitality and housing

for tourists coming to the community, they'd run off

and built a couple of concrete block structures

that were really local type of accommodation,

the kind of thing you would see in Uganda as a local hotel,

that locals would use, but really entirely unsuitable

to the tourist market.

So we worked with them, we took them

on a number of familiarization tours,

where we took them to other tented camps,

and throughout that process, their eyes were really opened

as to the kind of accommodation that the tourists

would be looking for, would appreciate,

and what they might be able to provide to them as well.

(Michael) People expected immediate returns, and so it's easy

to get a little bit pessimistic about the possibilities,

the outcomes, and how things will come to fruition.

And I guess if anything surprised me,

it was how quickly that opposition was overcome.

Once we finally had the Ruhija Gorilla Friends Group

contributing that 20% that's owned by the community

back to community initiatives,

we saw some really rapid transformation.

Really heartening to see it happen, because now we know

the community really supports the initiative

and they're working hard to make other endeavors work.

(Michael) In 2008, the tented camp finally opened.

In it's first year, being a short year,

it only opened in November,

so we had November, December, they had 24 visitors.

In 2009 they had 86 visitors and in 2010,

the last year for which I have figures, they had 314 visitors,

so they're doing quite well.

And if you consider how much money is generated

by this particular initiative-- Uganda generally,

average annual income is around 200 U.S. dollars per year.

They generate $50 per person per night at the tented camp,

and if you have 300 nights and you do the math,

you can figure out that's a substantial amount of income

for people living in a rural community.

Just this past November, the first installment, 20%,

went back to the larger community group.

So they're now at the stage where they've been able

to reinvest in their tented camp,

they were able to add a number of developments

that we hadn't first initiated ourselves,

they're building a new self-contained tent,

which means it will have its own washroom, shower facility,

they've built a couple of new water tanks,

they've built a water heater and a gravity feed for the shower.

So things are moving along quite well.

Beyond the actual tented camp

that was developed in partnership

with the Ruhija Gorilla Friends Group,

we're starting to see downstream linkages.

We're starting to see some of the supply chain

in terms of food and other goods developing within the community.

So the community members who may not be

engaged directly with the tented camp,

are producing food that is sold through the camp.

We're seeing community trails beginning to be developed

through the larger umbrella organization of Ruhija,

the Ruhija Tourism Development Organization

that was also developed as part of the project.

They've trained bird guides.

[birds sing]

We've sent a trainer up here who trained anyone in the community

interested in beekeeping, beekeeping management,

and product development.

♫ It's wonderful today ♫

♫ It is a wonderful day today for it is ♫

[all sing]

There is also Ruhija Orphans and Needy Children's Group

that's been put together by a young woman in the community

by the name of Happy.

♫

Life can be difficult in parts of Africa.

A lot of the children here are orphans.

(Michael) There are, some of the orphans are considered single orphans,

that is, they have only one parent, and others are

from families that really can't provide for them.

The children will show up at the camp, provide entertainment,

and then generally the tourists will provide some money

to support the initiative.

Given that tourists are coming to the community,

we're starting to see some collateral development as well.

We're seeing gift shops opening up on the main street.

What is really interesting about this though,

and I think that differentiates it from some other communities

where we've seen collateral, or what other people might call

coattail development, because now you have tourists,

people set up shops to sell things-- there's really

a limited amount of space

in which to set up these shops.

And so as a result, while there is no formal planning structure,

there is an overarching ownership

where community members own the land on this ridge.

So it's very difficult for outsiders to come in

and open up these shops, which therefore then,

contributes to the local economy.

What we're not seeing is outside groups coming in,

setting up shops, then earning income and taking it away.

So the income generated from all of these operations

is actually staying in the community.

And again, because of that, the community

has a greater appreciation for the park and more interested

in conserving the biodiversity in the park

that really forms the foundation of this sort of

renewed economic activity in the community.

In Kibale National Park,

many of the communities

surrounding the park are agricultural.

Kibale National Park is known for its primate population,

which are fairly clever animals, which frequently raid crops.

So it sets up a fairly significant conflict

between local communities and wildlife in the park.

And when a monkey comes out of the park

and eats the vegetables in a garden,

the park monkeys have caused damage to people's property.

But by developing income based upon that wildlife,

and having the people recognize that their income is coming

because tourists are coming to visit the wildlife,

they become more tolerant of some of these activities.

There's a strong community champion in Kemigisa,

who really set the stage for things moving forward.

(Michael) Margaret has organized the community members,

the women in her community into craft development groups.

She has over 250 women working in her group,

producing crafts for sale at zoos across North America.

And for a very short period of time,

in Banff National Park as well.

(Margaret)

(Michael) The next stage of that particular project is to

help Margaret develop marketing opportunities outside of Uganda,

because some of the crafts that they produce in their community

are truly some of the best in Uganda.

(Michael) There's a second group in Kibale, the research

assistants at the Makerere University Field Station.

At this time they've successfully initiated

an apiary, where they have beehives.

They've begun a tree plantation for native trees

for use for medicinal purposes, and they're considering

the development of a trail in the Dura Swamp.

(Michael) The third project is occurring in Katanguru,

which in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

It's actually right on the border of the park,

it's a small fishing community,

and it has a very, very low educational capacity.

Very few people in the community have completed

even primary 6, there's only a few people in the community

who speak English, and it's been a real challenge

to develop a proposal for them that would allow them to

engage in tourism and certainly in international tourism,

'cause it's pretty much a requirement

that somebody speak English, German, Italian, or French

in order to engage with the tourists.

Early on in our discussions with that group,

we were able to work with the Ugandan Wildlife Authority

and got permission for them

to operate a boat launch on the channel,

which had the potential to generate a lot of income,

but would be very costly to get started

and very difficult to bring that community

up to the capacity where they'd be able to manage it.

It's still there as a possibility for the future

as they begin developing other initiatives, and it'll

likely take place in terms of a public/private partnership,

where we'll have them work with

one of the local lodging operators to help manage it

and ensure that it works in a sustainable fashion.

But for the time being, the women actually decided

what they'd like to do and what they felt comfortable doing

was taking some of the land that they have been given by the park,

rehabilitating it, it's a former sand and gravel quarry,

and turning it into a hostel for Ugandan school children

who visit the park, which seems like a very good idea

given the fact that they speak the local language,

the students from Ugandan schools

will be speaking the local language,

and they won't have to raise the expectations

in terms of what their deliverables are.

School kids visit the national parks in part to develop

an appreciation for Uganda's nature

amongst its own population in the hopes

that they will want to conserve nature and generally,

support the national park system.

When we first came to Uganda

to begin working, when we were

initially funded for the project,

we set up a meeting in Kampala

with the entire project team

from Makerere University, University of Manitoba,

and then we invited community partners.

We asked them to sit in a room and work with us

to identify what they thought was, first of all,

the set of knowledge that tour professionals should have,

the attitudes that a tour professional should have,

and essentially, the characteristics

and interpersonal skills that tour professionals should have.

And based on those elements,

we defined the ideal tour professional

and started to build that into the curriculum.

They wanted critical thinkers; they wanted people

who could think on their feet.

They didn't want people who were just going

to spit answers back to them that they read in a book.

They wanted them to be able to work in the field.

So a big component of that

was having an extensive field component for students.

So the students now on our master's degree,

spend at least a month, up to 4 months,

working with a community, developing tourism product

and understanding the tourism industry

in that particular community.

(Michael) We're averaging about 5 students a year coming into

the program, but in addition to the master's students,

we also are training 3 PhD students.

Those PhD students are doing their PhDs in Makerere,

but we've got Commonwealth Scholarships

to bring them to Canada for 6 months

of intensive research and training.

One of those students is in Canada right at this very time.

(Michael) Uganda suffers, has something of an image problem.

For people of my generation, all we think of

when we hear the word Uganda is Idi Amin.

For people of the younger generation,

they think of HIV AIDS.

Then generally, people think it's unsafe.

♫

Uganda is probably the safest country in Africa right now.

The Ugandan people are warm, open, friendly,

incredibly happy to see tourists in their country.

There really is no part of the country

that it isn't safe to travel in.

The most recent statistics from the Ugandan Tourism Board

show that about one million, close to a million tourists

maybe 800,000, 900,000 visited in 2011.

Those numbers have increased almost tenfold since

the late 1990s, so numbers of tourists are increasing rapidly.

Some of our research shows, however, that a lot

of those tourists aren't the typical nature-based tourism.

About 50% of them are actually here as volunteers,

working in the country with NGOs,

religious organizations, etc.

Probably only about 25% are actual nature tourists.

So what that says to me is that there's tremendous potential

to expand the nature-based tourism offerings in Uganda,

and particularly when you think about the bird population.

They have over 1100 species of birds

in a very, very tiny country.

And it's very easy for people

to add immeasurable numbers to their life lists.

And I don't think Uganda yet is doing as good a job as it could

in marketing itself as a birding destination.

Birding is a huge industry, and people across the globe

spend a lot of money to travel and see birds,

and I think Uganda is probably one of the best places

on the planet to come and see birds.

[drums play; people sing in Ugandan language]

(Kato)

♫♫

[children laughing]

(woman) To order a DVD copy of "Uganda, Sustainable Tourism,"

please call, or visit our online store...

(woman) Production funding is provided

by the Natural Resources Institute

at the University of Manitoba through a UPCD grant

from Canadian International Development Agency and AUCC,

and by the members of Prairie Public