Rwenzori Mountains National Park

• Mining
• Staffing and budgetary deficiencies
• Degradation of buffer zone
• Climate Change
• Management systems/ management plan
• Impacts of tourism

On 31 January 2015, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/684/documents. Progress on a number of conservation issues raised by the Committee at its previous sessions is reported, including:

• The revision of the management plan, which expired in 2014, has been initiated;
• Continued involvement of local communities in conservation and tourism, integration of cultural approaches to conservation, promotion of sustainable use of park resources in designated areas, implementation of measures to reduce crop-raiding and human-wildlife conflict, and efforts to ensure equitable sharing of park revenues;
• Development of tourism, including visitor and revenue statistics;
• With donors’ support (World Wide Fund for Nature – WWF, European Union, French Development Agency), development of a sustainable financing strategy and a business plan, focusing on tourism promotion and including possible revenue from payments for ecosystem services and carbon credits (under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation - REDD);
• Trans-boundary collaboration with the State Party of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on the adjoining World Heritage property of the Virunga National Park is ongoing through quarterly meetings and coordinated patrols;
• Implementation of the property’s fire management plan and the 2010 ecological monitoring plan, as well as monitoring of the impacts of climate change, weather, snow recession, water quality, permanent vegetation sampling plots, key wildlife species and vegetation regeneration following fire;
• Repair of foot bridges, hiking trails and park access roads following a flash flood have been undertaken, as well as further development of park management infrastructure.

The State Party notes that a proposed mini-hydropower weir falling partly inside the property has not been approved for development. It also indicates that activities associated with the newly-signed 25-year concession to re-open the Kilembe copper mine immediately adjacent to the property will affect the water streams flowing out of the property, but details of the concession or wider environmental impacts of this development are not provided.

The State Party report was submitted in February 2015; therefore, activities undertaken during the course of 2015 were not reported.  Subsequent correspondence (December 2015) between the World Heritage Centre and the State Party has confirmed that no significant additional information was available.

Steady progress has been made in strengthening management effectiveness and engaging local communities through participation in boundary maintenance, fire control and management planning. Park revenues are now more equitably shared with communities, further progress has been made in the establishment and monitoring of collaborative resource use agreements with local communities and cultural approaches to conservation have been introduced. Long-term ecological monitoring is continuing with regular assessments of some key parameters, particularly related to the effects of climate change. However, no information is provided on the quantitative assessments of key large mammal populations, which contribute to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) under criterion (x), or whether the Mountain Specialist Group of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) has been consulted, as recommended in Decisions 36 COM 7B.4 and 38 COM 7B.93.

The revision of the park management plan, which expired in 2014, and the sustainable financing strategy and the business plan, which has been underway since 2013, should be completed as a high priority to ensure an updated management framework for the property.

The decision to halt the proposed mini-hydropower scheme at Kakaka, based on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) findings indicating negative impacts on the property’s OUV is welcome.

It is noted that quarterly meetings between the States Parties of Uganda and DRC are being held to plan operations including coordinated patrols but that insurgent activity in DRC is limiting such patrols. It is recommended that the Committee reiterate its encouragement to the States Parties (38 COM 8B.4) to continue their efforts towards developing a formal protocol to further strengthen collaboration.

Visitor numbers to the property in 2014 have remained very low at 1,209 international tourists and 1,558 national students, which generates annual revenues equivalent to less than USD 100,000 hence the continued support of international partners is critical if management operations are to be maintained.

The State Party report does not adequately address the Committee’s concerns which relate to the potential impacts of re-opening the Kilembe mine (Decision 38 COM 7B.93). No information was received on the terms of the 25-year concession agreement with the China-based company Tibet Hima Ltd. The mine is located very close to the boundary of the property and may include subterranean mining shafts that enter the property. Given its connectivity downstream, the mine could also impact the conditions of integrity of the World Heritage property of the Virunga National Park ,and therefore requires a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in line with IUCN’s World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, which specifically assesses potential impacts on the OUV of both properties.