Urbanisation hindering Mountain Gorilla Conservation

The Uganda Country Coordinator for International Gorilla Conservation Programme Henry Mutabazi said that the urbanisation surrounding National Parks remains a key challenge in Mountain Gorilla Conservation.

Speaking in a gorilla friendly meeting, Mutabazi explained that urbanisation has led to  increased population which in the long run affects Mountain Gorillas.

“At the moment we have about eight town councils surrounding Bwindi impenetrable National Park, they are not well planned and they have issues of waste disposal, the population has increased and a lot of waste is coming up yet their waste disposal methods are not the best”, he said.

Mutabazi added that Mountain Gorillas are affected by diseases which they contract from human beings around the park.

He noted, “Gorilla doctors tell us that there are increased respiratory diseases, skin infection diseases and warms, these diseases come from the human population because gorillas come out of the forest and go to homesteads around the park and end up contracting those diseases”.

Mutabazi stated that Urbanisation also fuels human wildlife conflict noting that most of the people living around the park are still practicing poaching which weakens the promotion of Mountain Gorilla Conservation in the country.

He noted that living around the park makes it easy for poachers to enter in the name of getting resources such as meat and medicine among others.

He however called for collaboration among urban authorities, park authorities and conservation organisations to come up with plan for these urban centres and ensure that the human population has social services.

“The physical planning of these town councils should be done in a manner that they don’t have effect on the park” ,Mutabazi stated.