Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. It used to be the Bwindi Impenetrable National Forest before they upped its protection. Impenetrable forest definitely has a sweeter ring to it, but I guess NP is stronger legal status, so we give and we take.
Bwindi is one of 8 national parks in the Central Albertine Rift Transfrontier Protected Area Network. Of the 8 NPs that form the CAR TFPA Network, 6 are in Uganda....hence, my current country of residence. The CAR TFPA Network started out as an initiative being promoted largely by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, an alliance of three INGOs (the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society and Flora & Fauna International) created specifically for the purpose of protecting the trinational habitat of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei).
What started out as cross-border collaboration on the ground between the park wardens, rangers and other NGO or research staff, was signed into some formality through a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the three protected areas authorities (Uganda Wildlife Authority, Office Rwandais de Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (I wonder if it will be translating its name into English now that it's made English an official language) and the Institute Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature. They're now in the process of drafting a treaty between the three governments.
I enquired about this treaty. The CAR TFPA Network has been proposed as a possible peace park, but the peace element is not currently being considered in this treaty. The focus is wildlife, peace would only confuse and complicate. Of course, I have to respectfully disagree, a peace mandate for an area like this would be instrumental. Not only is it a place that has a history of conflict, but it is still suffering from different forms of warfare.
Communities living on the border of the parks are literally in a battle against the wildlife and protected areas. Just heard a story yesterday of how a Ugandan woman had a baby child in a village near Queen Elizabeth NP (usually called Queen or QE for short) and one day a hyena came in and snatched her baby, ate it I presume. Ever since then, the villagers have been poisoning the hyenas. There are now maybe 200 or so individuals left. What used to be a common species in the region has become critically endangered. Joe was glad to have photos of the now rare encounter.
Just across the border in the DRC they are still fighting a twisted version of the Rwandan genocide mixed in with ethno-political battles of their own, with wildlife, natural resources and the environment paying for the petty tiffs that arise between the egos of men. As the East African saying goes, "When the elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." I won't drag on about the rapes, tree slaughter for charcoal, conflict timber, conflict diamonds, coltan for cell phones, or the number of displaced peoples pushed into already highly populated lands or even the protected areas themselves....there are enough reports to indicate that there's a problem. It's not proof that I'm seeking, it's answers.
I've just started to read a book that my friend Hana gave to me in Eastham, MA when Robby and I passed through on our roadtrip this summer - Blue Clay People. It's about this guy who went to Liberia in the middle of Charles Taylors' maniacal reign to run the largest food aid program in the country.
*Side note: speaking of food aid, Atsuko recently told me that Moroto the village she is working in, has just been put on a 40-year food programme by the UN. For 40 years, the people of Moroto will want not and need not in terms of basic alimental sustenance. I'm horrified at the thought. The next two generations of Moroto will grow up completely dependent on the UN, with little motivation to do anything. The development/aid community used to think that if you could supply for the basic needs of a community, it would free them up to do other things, like education, which will help them elevate their economies out of subsistence agriculture where their lives are at risk to the whims of clouds and rains. So food aid programs proliferated and yes, while it might save lives today, it does nothing to build the future....at least, not a more sustainable future. What it does is build dependency...what I call "disabled communities." They cannot function without assistance.
So anyway, Blue Clay People....I'm at the very beginning, where the guys has just arrived with all his ideals and visions of living with the poor, "fighting poverty while saving rainforests," but instead finds himself swept up in the expat life of serious luxury (not just relative luxury, but crazy luxury by any European or North American standards.....big houses in gated compounds, servants, maids, drivers, SUVs, etc.), where with words, "Do it," he can distribute food to villages he's never seen before.
I am not living anywhere near those means nor am I in charge of any kind of programme with that kind of backing, but I do live in a nice flat and Christine comes and does my laundry and cleaning for me once a week. I've also been here one month (2 days shy) and have yet to go out "into the field." I can't help but feel trapped in the city; I really didn't come here to live it up expat style with all my research coming from libraries and the internet.
Thankfully, I'm leaving tomorrow. I've introduced myself to the Transport Officer at the Uganda Wildlife Authority and he tells me that a car from Bwindi is here now for repairs. It's supposed to be done today at about 1pm, which means that it'll be off super early tomorrow morning and taking me with it to Bwindi! Conveniently, I have also just reached the part in the book where food aid man (can't remember his name) leaves the capitol for the bush. I'm not exactly heading upcountry through checkpoints guarded by child soldiers, but I also have little idea of what to expect. A la PILA, "you never know until you go."
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