Influence of collaborative forest management activities on controlling illegal hunting in Kalinzu Forest Reserve, Bushenyi district

Abstract

In the 20th century protected areas which people were excluded from, formed the main approach to conservation of biodiversity until the 1980s, as a response, several forms of participatory resources management were adopted in conservation among others to cater for the livelihood needs of the local communities. Collaborative forest management was developed to improve adjust forest communities livelihood and forest conditions through reduction of human dependency on forest resources. While illegal hunting for primates is not common, illegal hunting of other animals like duikers and bush pigs, NTPs occur in most natural forests of Uganda and therefore need to investigate the influence of CFM on reducing illegal hunting. This study was conducted in Rubirizi district focusing on NNTG CFM group under compartment 43 of Kalinzu CFR, the study analyzed the levels of illegal hunting in CFM and Non-CFM Compartments, challenges faced in implementation and the most techniques used in hunting and animals targeted. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and the sample size determined through systematic simple random sampling, Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 and Microsoft Excel. Findings show that illegal hunting levels are higher in Non-CFM compartment than in CFM compartment for all the years, Hippopotamus and Buffalos are the most hunted animals because of their nutritious meat and the high demand in the market with the common technique being spearing, corruption, and population growth and inadequate funds are the challenges hindering the implementation of CFM projects. In conclusion, CFM has influenced illegal hunting practice since more snares were removed in Non-CFM compartment; the social-cultural, Environmental and Economic factors affect the trends of hunting, legitimate needs of the local people should be considered to properly implement CFM projects. This study gives recommendations that more awareness to people, involving the land and central committees and avoid buying products with animal parts in order to do away with illegal hunting.