Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) in Uganda is globally famous as home to half of the world population of critically endangered mountain gorillas, which attract thousands of visitors to the forest every year. In theory, this tourism should bring benefits for both conservation and local communities, helping to resolve conflict between people and the park. However, in the past the majority of revenue used to ‘leak’ out of the area, leaving local people with little to show for the tourism that was taking place in their midst.
In 2006 Bwindi Advanced Market Gardeners’ Association was established (AMAGARA meaning ‘life’ in the local language Rukiga). AMAGARA aims to help local farmers to produce and market foods for the tourism industry while training them in farming techniques that minimise damage to the environment and forest and maximise the nutritional value of meals they provide for their families.
This link between increased household income and tourism has given the farmers a powerful incentive to conserve forest resources.
WHAT IS BWINDI AMAGARA?
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) in Uganda is globally famous as home to half of the world population of critically endangered mountain gorillas, which attract thousands of visitors to the forest every year. In theory, this tourism should bring benefits for both conservation and local communities, helping to resolve conflict between people and the park. However, in the past the majority of revenue used to ‘leak’ out of the area, leaving local people with little to show for the tourism that was taking place in their midst.
In 2006 Bwindi Advanced Market Gardeners’ Association was established (AMAGARA meaning ‘life’ in the local language Rukiga). AMAGARA aims to help local farmers to produce and market foods for the tourism industry while training them in farming techniques that minimise damage to the environment and forest and maximise the nutritional value of meals they provide for their families.
This link between increased household income and tourism has given the farmers a powerful incentive to conserve forest resources
Bwindi Advanced Market Gardeners’ Association was established with the aim of creating opportunities for local farmers to produce foods to supply the tourism industry. Under the original AMAGARA concept, this was to be achieved through the training of farmers, the bulking and grading of produce, and the marketing of that produce to the tour camps. Critical to this vision was the creation of a direct link between income for farmers and protection of the National Park for tourism, thereby providing a strong incentive for forest conservation, helping to ensure the future of both the forest and the local human population.
Bwindi AMAGARA has now moved from a concept to a reality. The Association was formally registered on February 19th 2007, and has been operating for over a year. Since registration, dramatic progress has been made towards realising the AMAGARA vision outlined above. The Association now boasts over 100 member households, is supplying vegetables and other products to every tour camp at Bwindi, has trained several hundred members and other local people in land management and horticultural techniques, employs three full time staff and numerous casual workers, and is generating around $500 per month in sales revenue. All of these benefits are dependent on the tourism industry in the area,
thereby ensuring that the project has created local incentives for natural resource conservation.
These results represent exceptionally good progress for such a community based organization which has been managed independently by local staff throughout its years of operations.