State of Conservation (SOC)

Requests Approved: 0 (from1995-2005)
Total Amount Ap proved: 116,739USD

Joint UNESCO-IUCN mission 5-11 January 2003.

a) Mining activities inside the property;

b) Staffing and budgetary deficiencies;

c) Degradation of buffer zone;

e) Impact of tourism and climbing expeditions.

The State Party submitted a State of Conservation report and the approved General management plan (2004-2014) on 26 October 2005. A map was also received showing the precise surveyed and marked boundary of the World Heritage property. A request for international assistance from the World Heritage Fund for the implementation of the Annual Operations Plan amounting to USD 19,990 was approved by the Chairperson in 2005 and is being implemented.

The State Party report provides an up-date on the activities of the management authority since the property was re-opened in 2001, following four years of closure due to insurgency and military intervention. The State Party report indicates significant progress towards strengthening of the conservation and natural resource management activities in and around the property. The priority for the next phase of the recovery programme included in the general management plan is to identify sustainable financing for the management of the property and its buffer zones.

The State Party report states that the general management plan is being implemented focusing on six main areas. There are community conservation; resource conservation and management; monitoring and research; park operations and maintenance; tourism development; and regional cooperation. The goal of the General management Plan is to ensure better conservation and protection of natural resources and to uplift the integrity of the park.

The World Bank’s Protected Area Management and Sustainable Use Programme and WWF are currently providing limited support for park management and a community conservation programme. However, substantial additional funding is still required to implement the general management plan 2004-2014.

The State Party also reported on the work of the Community Protected Area Institutions (CPIs), local community committees which work with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to address issues that affect community/Park relations, established upon the recommendation of the 2003 UNESCO-IUCN mission. At present, CPIs have been established in 22 adjacent sub-counties of three districts as well as an Inter-District CPI. It manages relationships with the communities, involves communities in protected area management and facilitates the implementation of benefit sharing projects. The possibility of establishing a memorandum of understanding between communities and Rwenzori Mountains National Park to share resources that occur within three kilometres inside the park is being studied.

According to the State Party report the main threats to the property at this point in time are threefold. They are: illegal timber cutting for commercial purposes; poaching of wildlife for domestic consumption; and illegal harvesting of bamboo for construction. Issues that represent a future threat to the World Heritage values of the property include: unplanned tourism development, including mountaineering; possible mining activities in and around the property; and population pressure on the boundary leading to the unsustainable use of natural resources.

The World Heritage Centre and IUCN consider the progress made by the State Party and UWA since the property was re-opened in 2001 to be very positive. The recently approved management plan incorporates the recommendations of the joint 2003 UNESCO/IUCN mission and provides a sound basis for the management of the World Heritage property for the period 2004-2014. The World Heritage Centre and IUCN recommend that the management authority follows an adaptive management approach in the implementation of the plan with a mid-term review in 2009.