Across the scenic Murchison Landscape of western Uganda, the northern Albertine Rift stands out as one of the country’s most biologically diverse regions, supporting a remarkable range of wildlife and plant species.
The region is home to an estimated 52% of Africa’s bird species, 39% of its mammal species, 19% of its amphibian species, 14% of its reptile species and 14% of its plant species.
Among the iconic wildlife species found in the landscape are blue monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, vervet monkeys, black-and-white colobus monkeys, olive baboons and the endangered Eastern Chimpanzee.
However, this rich ecosystem is increasingly under pressure from human activities, with agricultural expansion and oil developments contributing to the fragmentation of forests that once formed a continuous habitat.
The destruction has left forests across community and private land increasingly isolated, weakening the natural connections between the Bugoma and Budongo forests that wildlife depends on to move freely across the landscape.
The scale of forest loss in the area has been significant.
Between 1986 and 2002 alone, an estimated 110 square kilometres of forest was cleared within 15 kilometres of Bugoma Forest Reserve, while approximately 90 square kilometres was lost within 15 kilometres of Budongo Forest Reserve.
For conservationists, the loss of connecting habitats presents a particular threat to Uganda’s Eastern Chimpanzee population.
Uganda is estimated to have approximately 5,000 Eastern Chimpanzees, most of which are concentrated in forests within the northern Albertine Rift.
Although some chimpanzee groups continue to move through agricultural areas between isolated forest patches, conservationists say restoring continuous habitat between Bugoma and Budongo is essential to prevent genetic isolation and support the long-term survival of the species.
To address the growing fragmentation, the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) and its partners are implementing a landscape-scale corridor restoration programme across the Budongo-Bugoma landscape.
The programme aims to conserve and restore more than 50,000 hectares of natural forest by securing critical ecological linkages across Kikuube, Hoima and Masindi districts.
Under ECOTRUST’s leadership, the Northern Albertine Rift Conservation Group (NARC-G) developed an investment plan targeting key forest blocks considered essential for maintaining the functionality of the corridor.
The initiative was initially launched through the Corridor Restoration Fund (CRF) in 2020, with foundational support from the World Land Trust.
In 2022, ECOTRUST mobilised additional resources from IUCN Netherlands and TotalEnergies to support implementation of the restoration plan.
On the ground, restoration activities include communal tree planting through Communal Land Associations and Community Wetland Associations, as well as re-afforestation by smallholder farmers.
In the critical Bugoma-Wambabya-Bugambe linkage, more than 2,000 local farmers and forest owners have so far participated in planting approximately 60 hectares of native forest patches.
Conservation efforts are also involving landowners who live along important ecological corridors.
More than 100 households have voluntarily offered portions of their private land along the Kasoma-Kanwyaborongo river system to support permanent corridor connectivity.
Formal trust deeds are currently being negotiated to place the land under community trust arrangements, with the aim of protecting land tenure while securing the areas for long-term conservation.
The initiative is being supported by expansion funding from IUCN Netherlands.
Beyond providing movement corridors for wildlife, conservationists say restoring the Bugoma-Budongo landscape is important for Uganda’s nature-based economy.
Budongo Forest Reserve is an internationally recognised tourism destination, particularly known for chimpanzee tracking in the Kaniyo-Pabidi sector, bird watching and ecotourism.
Maintaining a connected forest ecosystem could therefore help protect tourism activities and ensure that income generated through nature-based tourism continues to benefit surrounding communities.
One of the longstanding challenges facing conservation initiatives in the landscape has been the lack of sustainable financing mechanisms capable of supporting restoration beyond short-term donor-funded projects.
To address this challenge, ECOTRUST, with support from the Darwin Initiative and in partnership with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), has developed a biodiversity-credit-based incentive mechanism.
The community-designed initiative seeks to establish a long-term income stream that rewards local communities and landowners for conservation and restoration efforts.
The mechanism operates under the Plan Vivo Biodiversity Standard (PV Nature), where biodiversity certificates generate payments linked to verified restoration outcomes.
Under the model, one certificate represents a 1% verified increase in biodiversity per hectare per year.
Progress is measured through field monitoring of key biodiversity indicators, including birds, primates and plant diversity, alongside measurements of human-related threats to the ecosystem.
The biodiversity certificates are owned directly by participating communities and landholders, including Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs).
By combining land trusteeships with direct financial returns from biodiversity credits, ECOTRUST and its NARC-G partners are seeking to establish a sustainable model for managing the Bugoma-Budongo landscape.
The approach is intended not only to restore forests but also to give local communities a direct economic incentive to protect them.
If sustained, conservationists say the restoration of the corridor could reconnect fragmented forests, strengthen biodiversity, support local livelihoods and provide Uganda’s endangered Eastern Chimpanzees with safer routes through a connected ecosystem.
For a species increasingly threatened by habitat fragmentation, the restoration of the Bugoma-Budongo corridor could prove critical to ensuring that Uganda’s chimpanzees survive and thrive for generations to come.
