Three new mountain national parks for Uganda

For many years the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society has supported efforts to conserve forests in the Albertine Rift Afromontane Region of east-central Africa. The biodiversity of these forests is especially high but most have been destroyed or badly degraded. There are a large number of local, national and international initiatives to conserve at least some of the forests that remain. In 1991 Uganda created the Rwenzori Mountains, Mgahinga Gorilla, and Bwindi-Impenetrable National Parks, thus protecting all three of its Albertine Rift montane forests. This paper presents a synopsis of the conservation values of these three parks, and describes the conservation problems and the efforts to help ensure their proper development and long-term viability. Considerable progress towards the conservation of all three areas has already been made and future prospects are good, particularly for the mountain gorilla Gorilla gorilla beringei.