Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve: biological and socio-economic survey 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Uganda has an extremely rich and diverse biota (NEIC, 1994), which represents the
intersection of no less than six biogeographic zones: the Guinea-Congolian, Sudanian, and
Somalia-Masai regional centres of endemism, the Afromontane archipelago-like centre of
endemism, the Guinea-Congolia-Sudania regional transition zone, and the Lake Victoria
regional mosaic (White, 1983). Its moist tropical climate allows for high levels of primary
productivity which promotes overall alpha diversity by allowing for greater niche
differentiation, and its varied topography allows for high beta diversity (Whittaker, 1972).
This diversity directly supports the 90% of the population (NEAP, 1993) who depend on
natural resources for their day to day livelihoods.
During the political turmoil of the 1970s and 80s there was next to no control on the
harvesting of plants and animals, and many of the nation’s protected areas were encroached
upon, eroding the rich natural resource base. In 1996 the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA)
was formed from the former Game Department and Uganda National Parks. It is responsible
for the conservation of the nation’s wild animals and plants, and the management of Wildlife
Protected Areas, including the production of management plans. The aims of the Frontier-
Uganda Wildlife Protected Areas Project Baseline Surveys Programme are to assess the
biological and socio-economic status of the nation’s Wildlife Protected Areas to assist UWA
with the development of management strategies: the specific aims of this survey are outlined
in section 1.1 below.
1.1 Aims
The survey of Pian-Upe Wildlife Reserve aims to:
• collect baseline biological information on the vegetation, large mammals, and small fauna
of the reserve;
• collect baseline socio-economic information on the communities living around the
reserve, including information on their attitudes towards and their impacts on the reserve;
• contribute to existing knowledge at a national and international level; and
• train self funding volunteer research assistants in biological and socio-economic survey
techniques.
Frontier-Uganda Wildlife Protected Areas Project January 1998
Baseline Surveys Programme Report No. 13