The Complex Politics of Conservation: Exploring the Case of the Bugoma Forest and How Ecotourism is Accelerating Environmental Action

Photo - Max Christian

Conservation and environmental protection are often seen as a scientific issue, requiring highly technical expertise in biology and related fields. Yet in reality, the enforcement and maintenance of conservation is a deeply politicised topic, involving a wide range of actors and institutions whose interests frequently clash. This article explores the political nature of conservation through the case of Uganda’s Bugoma Forest. In an interview with Tony Ofungi, a prominent activist and sustainable tourism operator in the region, these dynamics came to the forefront. As a member of the ‘Climate Friendly Travel’ network, he highlights how nature-positive solutions dependnot only on environmental knowledge, but on the effective use of institutions and community-led initiatives.

Located in Western Uganda, the Bugoma Forest is home to someof the richest biodiversity in the region. As one of the last remainingwildlife corridors in East Africa, it sustains key endangered species,including the Uganda mangabey primate and significant populations ofchimpanzees. In 1932, over 40,000 hectares of forest were gazetted under theBritish colonial administration. Whilst this seemed like a way to protect apristine landscape from human activity, it also reinforced colonial practicesof displacement in the name of conservation. Furthermore, it also suggestedthat conservation in colonial Africa was motivated as much by political motivesas by environmental concerns.

During this time, the territory was reorganised intodifferent land tenure systems, with some pre-colonial kingdoms retaining theircultural influence, albeit without any political clout. Following independencein 1962, however, all the land in the country became centralised under thestate, and the semi-autonomous status of these kingdoms was abolished. Amongstthem was the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom, whose historical territory covered the entiretyof the Bugoma Forest and extended into the neighbouring Democratic Republic ofthe Congo.  

In 1993, the Traditional Rulers Act was passed to returnsome land and assets to traditional kingdoms across Uganda, including theBunyoro-Kitara. Whilst this returned some degree of autonomy to local entities,it also exposed them to new political and economic pressures, particularly toextractive industries. Amongst the most influential were sugar corporations, whichsecured leases for approximately 22 square miles of forest for plantationdevelopments. Although this decision was highly contested within the Bunyorancabinet, the personal greed of a small minority ultimately enabled theexpansion of multinationals.

There has also been evidence of companies bribing locals andkeeping them as hostages to abandon their traditional crops, thereby increasingpressure on the kingdom. At the same time, other lucrative businesses such astimber and charcoal burning were also adding fuel to the alarming rates ofdeforestation in the last decade. Together, these pressures reveal the widerange of actors involved in Bugoma’s degradation and emphasise the complexity ofresolving it.

At present, the Bugoma forest is managed by the NationalForest Authority (NFA), an organisation that Tony and 12 other activists tookto court in 2020 for failing to carry out an Environment and Social ImpactAssessment (ESIA). Other concerns included the NFA’s limited capabilities toprevent activity from loggers and mafias, as well as its lack of a specialisedenforcement force on the ground. In this context, the constant “chainsaws heardat night” are not only the product of illicit activity, but also of systemicgovernance failures. Only recently has the Ugandan government issued adirective involving the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, which, according to Tony, mayoffer a more effective mechanism for strengthening enforcement.

Nevertheless, bottom-up, grassroots movements are equally(if not more) important than top-down governance institutions. As Tony notes,“without the grassroots, you are only speaking in silos”, preventing a crucial sourceof the possible change. In many cases, institutions aiming to deliver genuinepositive outcomes can unintentionally perpetuate inequalities on the ground.Just as in 1932, when the British administration gazetted the land to “protect”the forest, the exclusion of local communities led to widespread displacement, reinforcinginequalities and the flawed idea that conservation requires a stark divisionbetween humans and nature.

Instead, it is fundamental to recognise that the knowledgeof local populations is and has always been the most valuable for managingtheir environments. In the case of Bugoma, these communities have lived in closerelationship with the forest for centuries, sustaining their livelihoodswithout compromising the ecosystem. Indeed, the name “Bugoma” itself comes froma word meaning “drum”, as these were produced using forest resources in asustainable manner.

Building on this emphasis on local knowledge, Tony has longbeen engaged in ecotourism. He describes this sector as one of the mosteffective ways to preserve not only the biodiversity of the Bugoma Forest, butalso the knowledge systems and practices of local communities. For him, beingan “ecotourist” means being prepared to “observe the best practices” and todevelop a meaningful understanding of host communities, whom he activelyinvolves as guides and “guardians” of the forest.

Furthermore, the Ugandan Wildlife Authority emphasises theneed for at least 20% of profits to stay within the community and to be reinvestedin infrastructure and improvements to quality of life. In this way, ecotourism offersan alternative to extractive industries by enabling communities to maintaintheir traditional livelihoods and share their knowledge of the forest, ratherthan being pushed into dependence on a single crop.

This article has demonstrated that the question regardingconservation is, as Tony puts it, “as complex as a katogo plate” – atraditional Ugandan dish in which multiple ingredients are mixed altogether. Effectivelyprotecting an area like the Bugoma Forest begins by identifying how its historyand present-day pressures continue to make it vulnerable. From there, itrequires determining who gets to control the land, who overseesdecision-making, and whose livelihoods are prioritised.

A special thank you to Tony Ofungi for sharing suchthoughtful insights and fascinating experiences.