Kibale National Park - Forest Management

Forest Management

Reforestation Efforts

A verified carbon standard project entitled “Natural High Forest Rehabilitation Project on Degraded Land of Kibale National Park” has been implemented in the park by Uganda Wildlife Authority in cooperation with Face the Future. According to the proposal, the project aims to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change through forest regeneration and tree planting on the degraded lands within Kibale National Park. Some of the project objectives include the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems, enhanced biodiversity conservation, prevention of soil erosion, education of and employment opportunities for local communities, and the regeneration of vegetation on the edge of forest areas to act as a buffer to interior forests. The project proposes to achieve these objectives through the reforestation of 6.213 ha within the park utilizing indigenous species including Albizzia quimmifera, Bridelia micrantha, and Croton megalocarpus. Seedlings of these species will be obtained from within the park, grown in nurseries, and purchased from local growers before being transplanted in the degraded landscape.

Forestry Research in the Park

Many studies have been conducted within the park to assess the factors influencing forest regeneration and forest management techniques. One such study’s results suggested that forest restoration could be achieved through preventing fires within the park and allowing natural succession to occur so that the grasslands formed due to human activity could naturally regenerate to forests. The results showed that plots within the park that had the longest history of fire exclusion had the highest species diversity of trees. Furthermore, species of trees that required animal dispersal of their seeds were far more abundant than non-animal dispersed species in the plot with the longest duration of fire exclusion. This suggests that seed dispersing animals were also more abundant in areas where fire was excluded. Lastly, the presence of seed dispersers and animal dispersed species of trees in some grassland plots suggest that suppressing fire and allowing natural seed dispersal to occur can encourage forest regeneration. Another study evaluated the use of exotic pine and cypress tree plantations as a forest restoration technique within the park. This study showed a high level of natural regeneration of indigenous trees within pine plantations most likely due to the use of these plantations by seed dispersing animals such as redtail monkeys, chimpanzees, duikers, and bushpigs, all of which were sited or tracked within the plantations. A recent study conducted by Ireland, Cheng and Bischoff investigated the long-term impacts of logging on ant genus richness in Kibale National Park. Interestingly, the authors found evidence suggesting that invertebrate communities can recover; however Kibale National Park is at threat of becoming the epicentre of the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile)