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THE
IMPACT OF WAR ON PROTECTED AREAS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. CASE STUDY
OF VIRUNGA VOLCANOES
REGION By: Samson E.W. Werikhe, Uganda
Wildlife Authority (UWA) Norbert Mushenzi, Institut
Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) Jean
Bizimana, Office Rwandais des Tourisme et Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN)
BACKGROUND The
area referred to as Virunga Volcanoes Region (VVR) is that part in Central
Africa covered by three protected areas in three
countries. These protected areas, currently managed
as national parks are: Parc National des Volcans (PNV, 160 km2)
in Rwanda, Parc National des Virungas (PNVi, 240
km2) in Democratic Republic of Congo)
and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (MGNP, 33.7
km2). Parc National des Virungas was
Africa's first national park gazetted in 1925 and it
was later reclassified as a World Heritage Site
because of its internationally recognized unique natural and cultural sites.
Straddling the international boundaries of the three
countries, the Virunga Volcanoes Region has no
physical demarcation along the borders and free ranging animals within
the area are transient between the different neighbouring
countries. Of notable significance, the region
harbors the rare and endangered mountain gorilla, Gorilla
gorilla beringei whose total population worldwide is approximately
600 animals. Slightly less than 50% of these are
within the Virunga Volcanoes Region (Butynski, T.M., S.E.
Werikhe and J. Kalina, 1990). The other population is found in Bwindi
Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. For
a long time, only the Virunga Volcanoes portions of
Rwanda and Congo were managed
under national parks. The Ugandan portion was until 1991 managed
as a Forest - and Game Reserve (Werikhe, 1991).
Creation of MGNP six years ago elevated its level
of protection and matched it with the other two national parks in the region.
This was a significant breakthrough in support
of conservation and it now seems certain that the
three countries recognize the importance and urgent need to safeguard the
mountain gorilla and its habitat. The
Virunga Volcanoes Region protects a large number of plant and animal
species endemic to the Albertine
Rift. This marked biological diversity with
a high level of endemism
is related to the long natural evolution and tormented geological and volcanic
history during the Plio-Pleistocene era (d'Huart, 1989).
Human population density in the region is considerably
high. At a population density averaging 300 people/km2,
there is enormous pressure onto these protected areas for livelihood
needs especially fertile land for agriculture, fuel wood, construction wood,
coffee plantations, food and lots of other forest products.
The conservation policies in place have therefore,
been designed to address the above pressures but also ensure a balanced
situation with the adjacent people for
enhanced protection and continued existence
of the resource. The region is well known for
its very high tourism potential exhibited by presence of mountain
gorillas, other taxa and impressive scenery. Some groups of gorillas have
been habituated to human presence
and are currently viewed by tourists,
fetching a fair amount of revenue
to the three countries. The substantial amounts of money generated
from tourism are used by the Rwanda, Congo and Uganda's
Wildlife institutions of Office Rwandais du
Tourisme et Parcs Nationaux
(ORTPN), Institut Congolais pour
la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN),
and Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), respectively to manage
conservation activities in the Virunga Volcanoes. During
the late 1990, a civil war was waged onto the Rwanda Government and this
is reported to have started from the Mutara
Region, Rwanda. Launching war from the Mutara
was deleterious to conservation because of its location in the Virunga Volcanoes
Region. Over the years, the war advanced slowly
into deeper regions of Rwanda until 1994 when
the Rwandese Patriotic Front took over power. This saw over
700,000 refugees fleeing Rwanda to North Kivu
District, Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of
Congo for sanctuary. The effects of this war on
conservation in the region were directly felt for about seven years
since the war broke. They were most seriously felt when refugees camped
in or near protected areas and utilized resources
therein with impunity. Other negative effects felt
included loss of lives of protected area staff, destruction of wildlife
species and their habitat, breakdown
in communication, destruction of infrastructure,
halt on tourism activities,
and above all, complete degeneration in staff work effectiveness due
to insecurity. IMPACT
OF THE WAR ON PARC
NATIONAL DES VIRUNGAS, DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO. Refugee
Problem In July 1994 a
mass exodus of Rwandese refugees took
place to Uganda and Democratic
Republic of Congo. Congo took in the largest number of the refugees who
were given asylum in the region
of North and South Kivu near Parc
National des Virungas. The refugee
crisis aggravated conflicts over land tenure and heightened inter-
ethnic tensions within Congo. The
presence of over 700,000 refugees who were temporarily resettled in five
refugee camps on the borders of Parc National
des Virungas was a disaster to conservation. Foremost,
this settlement contravened the
United Nations High Commission
for Refugees' (UNHCR) policy against
establishment of refugee camps on the borders of protected
areas (Lanjouw, Cummings and Miller, 1995). The minimum distance should
not be less than 150 km away from the nearest protected
area boundary. However, the situation with these
refugees was incredibly pathetic and large numbers were perishing
on a daily basis. The UNHCR, acting against its own policy,
was forced to establish refugee camps in
the neighborhood of Africa's oldest national park. The
presence of refugees on the PNVi's boundary resulted into; ·
Destruction of more than 150 km2
of the forest cover of the park, and deterioration of the
aesthetic value of the landscape. The
refugees specialized in the trading of
charcoal, firewood and wild game and all these were from
the PNVi. Over 50 % of the bamboo
on Mt. Mikeno was cut for manufacture of mats, fans, baskets,
and for construction purposes. ·
Reduction of the available firewood
supply from plantations and village-based forest reserves
which act as buffer areas to the PNVi, thus leaving the park very vulnerable
to fuelwood removal. ·
Massacre of the wildlife in PNVi.
Exact information on species and numbers affected is yet
to be collected but some information shows that large mammals like hippopotamus,
elephant and gorillas were killed. The number of
nylon and metallic snares seized by the ICCN guards
went from 913 in 1994 to 2795 in 1995, and the number of machetes
went from 1,588 to 4,078.
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