The Landscape

The project is being implemented within the Bugoma and Budongo Landscape (2022 – 2023): The main goal is to have a reduced (forest) wildfire risk with clear interventions for local stakeholder benefit and sustainable management of forests within Bugoma and Budongo landscape. The Bugoma and Budongo forests are the largest forest blocks in Uganda, covering 40,000 and 80,000 ha respectively.

Conservation problem

Over the years, the (forest) wildfire risks in the landscape have increased. It is anticipated that the start of oil and gas exploitation in the landscape will further increase fire risks in the landscape. These fires impact vegetation and wildlife directly by affecting vegetation and wildlife species composition, regeneration of slow-growing tree species is impaired and forests may gradually be replaced by savannah, affecting local climate and hence critically impacting local communities.

Project activities

Controlled fires are essential in management of savanna Parks in Uganda and are used as a management tool to refresh grass for domestic and wild ungulates or for hunting. Therefore, the project will aim at understanding the extent of the wildfire problem and assess the needs of the main stakeholders and their use of fires with defined guidelines to reduce the wildfire risks, and clear intervention of wildfire for local stakeholder benefit and sustainable management of forests within Bugoma and Budongo landscape. This will be achieved through the following objectives/ actions:

1. Commission a desk and field-based assessment of (forest) wildfires in Uganda to understand the extent of the problem, assess the needs of the main stakeholders and their use of fires with defined guidelines.
2. Organise stakeholder consultative meetings to agree on a common strategic vision for (forest) wildfire problem in the landscape.
3. Draft / strengthen / wildfire management plan/ guidelines including response mechanisms for the landscape and the country.
4. Start or link-up with a national platform on fire management and draft / strengthen / wildfire management plan/ strategy including response mechanisms for the country.

Project results

The project is expected to achieve the following results after the implementation of the project activities.

• Stakeholders in the Bugoma landscape understand better the impacts of (forest) wildfires and are able to contribute to measures to prevent and control wildfires.
• Landscape stakeholders commit to a participatory and inclusive landscape multi-stakeholder platform working towards a robust (forest) wildfire management plan /guidelines.
• Landscape stakeholders support implementation of the landscape (forest) wildfire management plan that includes response mechanisms, and lessons from which actively fed into the national guideline development.