People , park and plant use Recommendations for multiple - use zones and develop - ment alternatives around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park , Uganda A .

This series of working papers is intended to provide information and to generate fruitful discussion on key issues in the sustainable and equitable use of plant resources. This publication is based on a report prepared in 1992 for CARE-DTC. CARE's Development Through Conservation (DTC) project, initiated in 1988 under an agreement between USAID, WWF and CARE, has supported environmental conservation in southwest Uganda with particular focus on the two national parks, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and the adjacent communities. DTC has supported Uganda Wildlife Authority in setting up the innovative multiple-use progamme in which communities harvest non-timber forest products from the two parks. The People and Plants Initiative of WWF, UNESCO, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has supported CARE-DTC's work through sponsorship, research and information gathering, ethnobotany training, and publication of the project's experience in implementing multiple use. The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The opinions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and do not commit any Organization. Photos: All photos by A.B. Cunningham, except for cover photos 2 and 3 and photos 4 and 5 by R. Höft Cover illustration: Contours of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park overlaid on (1) Granary constructed from Loeseneriella apocynoides (omujega) near Bwindi; (2) Women carrying Cyperus lati-folius (ekigaga) bundles used for weaving mats; (3) Smilax anceps (enshuli) used for granaries and stretchers. In the large forested areas of the Zaïre and Amazon basins human densities are low, and disturbance by "forest peoples" creates rather than reduces diversity, forming a mosaic of vegetation types at different stages of recovery after disturbance. Afromontane forests are at the opposite extreme. Situated in one of the most densely populated areas of Uganda, the remaining forests formerly occupied by the Batwa have become the focus for harvesting of plant resources by the farmers who cleared them. They have also become the subject of national and international conservation efforts. Afromontane forests in western Uganda, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in particular, are now fragmented islands, surrounded by rural farmlands. Under these circumstances, sustainable forest management differs greatly from the use of low species diversity, highly productive reedbeds or thatch-grassland, …