Implementation of the PRDP and its fourteen
components will potentially transform the fragile savanna ecosystem
in Northern Uganda. The last twenty years have resulted in recovery
of woodland by about 12-23% outside of protected areas, and by
20-39% in protected areas. A large belt of increased woody cover is
evident west and north of Kitgum where the rebels were most active.
Returning and resettling former IDPs means there will be new
settlements, and infrastructure, increasing demand for fuel wood
and use of forest land for farming and other income generating
activities. The ENRP is addressing some of these issues and will
put in place general environmental impact mitigation measures.
However, there is a need to strengthen the management effectiveness
of protected areas, expand the PA system, where feasible, and
improve management of critical ecosystems outside PAs, in
particular dry season refugia and migration corridors (calling for
a landscape wide approach). Global biodiversity benefits cannot be
sustained in the landscape without taking a landscape approach, as
development activities in the landscape will otherwise have adverse
externalities on the PAs. Several threats to biodiversity,
including wildfires, emanate from production activities occurring
in the landscape, further underscoring the need to adopt a
landscape -wide approach to biodiversity
management.
