Local communities are engaged in connectivity conservation by recognising that designating areas for ecological connectivity will also protect their ancestral lands from new settlers. Recognition of local connectivity areas at the federal and/or global level would help local connectivity conservation.

The Albertine Rift region spans six countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia) and is one of the most biodiverse parts of Africa, with more endemic and threatened species of vertebrates than elsewhere on the continent (Figure 1) (Plumptre et al., 2007). It is also a region with one of the highest human population densities in Africa, and as a result has lost 30% of its natural habitat to agriculture and settlement (Ayebare et al., 2018). While relatively well covered by protected areas, many of them are separated from each other and in danger of becoming isolated islands of natural habitat in a sea of agriculture.

In 2000, the MacArthur Foundation financed a collaborative planning approach for the Albertine Rift that brought together the national governments and many conservation organisations to develop a conservation framework plan. This overarching framework identified six key landscapes in the Albertine Rift that potentially could be managed at the landscape level to ensure connectivity between protected areas (Figure 1).

Detailed conservation plans were developed for each of the six landscapes. The two transboundary landscapes (the Greater Virunga Landscape and the Congo-Nile Divide) each developed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for collaboration. In the Greater Virunga Landscape the MOU evolved into a transboundary treaty for conservation of the landscape. Funds were then raised to implement the plans. In some regions, biodiversity surveys were conducted, and systematic conservation planning was done using distribution models of endemic species in the region. This analysis identified additional critical areas outside the existing ecological networks for conservation in the six landscapes (Plumptre et al., 2017).

Figure 1. The six landscapes of the Albertine Rift © A.J. Plumptre

Implementation of connectivity conservation in the Albertine Rift varied greatly. In the Murchison-Semuliki Landscape, a highly populated, fragmented region with many immigrants looking for land, the focus was on conserving remaining ecological corridors (Figure 2). Forest corridors along streams and rivers and a savannah corridor along the escarpment above Lake Albert were protected. In the Maiko-Itombwe Landscape, large areas of contiguous tropical forest still exist. Therefore, the focus was on working with local people to set aside some of the most important areas as protected areas and linking them with ecological corridors in the form of sustainable-use community areas (Figure 3). Local communities were willing to engage in the process because they realised that it would help them protect their ancestral lands from people migrating into the area from outside their culture.

In the two transboundary landscapes the main focus was on the protected areas because most natural habitat outside of them had already been lost. However, landscape-scale conservation and management are still important for species moving long distances, such as lions, elephants, spotted hyenas, leopards, chimpanzees, mountain gorillas and vultures. Ensuring that the existing connectivity between protected areas will not be severed by park developments and tourism infrastructure is important for these species.

Figure 2. The main protected areas and natural habitats in the Murchison-Semuliki Landscape © A.J. Plumptre

Since 2000, conservation action plans have been developed for each of the six landscapes and are recognised locally, nationally, and for the transboundary landscapes, internationally. Maintaining or restoring connectivity between existing protected areas has been more successful in some landscapes than others.

Biodiversity surveys in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo led to the creation of four new protected areas: Itombwe Natural Reserve and Tayna Reserve in the Maiko- Itombwe Landscape, and Kabobo and Ngandja reserves in the Marungu-Kabobo Landscape. They ensure maintenance of connectivity and conservation of endemic and threatened species in these two landscapes. To maintain connectivity, several other community reserves were designated and are locally recognised in the Maiko-Itombwe Landscape, but have not been legally recognised at the national level. In addition, a fifth protected area, Oku Primate Reserve, is being established by local communities in the same landscape to better connect and conserve Grauer’s gorilla and elephant populations.

In the Marungo-Kabobo region, efforts were made to establish these two contiguous protected areas, which represent the largest block of forest along Lake Tanganyika.

While connectivity still exists in the Greater Mahale Landscape, a too-narrow focus on chimpanzees is hindering the conservation of several other endemic species, many of which have different habitat and connectivity requirements. There is a need to develop conservation plans that consider the broader biodiversity of this region. However, the recognition of these large landscapes is helping with their longer-term conservation and management. More resources are needed to implement conservation action, but limited resources are being used effectively to maintain connectivity at the landscape scale.

Figure 3. The main protected areas (black borders), community reserves (blue borders) and natural habitat in the Maiko-Itombwe Landscape © A.J. Plumptre