Making space for birds: Sourcing solutions from the mountain gorilla conservation model in Rwanda

Abstract

Birds play vital roles in ecosystem functioning and human well-being, however, anthropogenic threats have led to alarming population declines and extinctions.  Concerted efforts of international and local partners have attained tangible progress in the recovery of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), demonstrated by a rise in numbers.  The mountain gorilla conservation approach initiated in Rwanda has been scaled-up to include gorilla habitats in DRC and Uganda, and recently the Greater Virunga landscape, which comprises eight reserves.  Adapting key steps from the mountain gorilla conservation model to birds presents multiple benefits, especially if conducted methodically within a Systematic Conservation Planning framework, notwithstanding obvious perceptual and geographical differences between the taxa.  Birds provide an efficient conservation surrogate, therefore, management interventions targeting birds in Rwanda will simultaneously support other affected taxa and ecosystem services more broadly across the region.

Mapping of biodiversity hubs and key ecosystem services as a tool for shaping optimal areas for conservation

“…A multilevel collaboration of stakeholders at national and international level, in which the public plays a strong role is crucial for the long-term conservation success in Rwanda. Beyond its heavily reliant on gorilla trekking and big five tourism, Rwanda needs to expand and diversify its tourism industry through the development of other forms of tourism, such as bird-related tourism and others [ 16 ]. The inclusion of unprotected habitats and other taxonomic groups into the protection scheme would undoubtedly set the foundation for Rwanda to better its environment, enrich its biodiversity and diversify its tourism.…”

“…The country had a projected human population of 12,089,720 in 2018 and the highest population density on mainland Africa (477 people per sq.km) [ 16 ]. Around 90% of its still rapidly growing population depend on small-scale agriculture which exacerbated the quest for arable land and fuelwoods, leading to massive degradation of all forests and wetlands outside reserves [ 19 ].…”

“…The PA in Rwanda are largely a colonization legacy predominantly sustained by government institutions and international NGOs. One of the drawbacks of that PA model is that it can indirectly confine the arena for conservation action within reserves, hence condemning outside landscapes to maximum exploitation, which finally creates pockets of PA in extensive human transformed habitats [ 16 ]. In developing countries, PA model faces another more fundamental problem which is that the designation status, even when backed by laws, does not guarantee long term conservation, as it may be undermined by socio-political and economic changes and end up through downgrading, downsizing, de-gazettement or total degeneration [ 3 ].…”

“…It unpacks some of the home-grown realities of these linkages through the application of a multidimensional conservation approach. By doing so, it responds to five current weaknesses that are common in today’s conservation analysis in Rwanda as it has been raised by various authors [ 16 – 19 ]. These weaknesses are the following:…”

Assessing tropical forest restoration after fire using birds as indicators: An afrotropical case study

“…Countries like Rwanda have shown high willingness to restore degraded forests. However, current conflicting policies in the forestry and agriculture sectors (Fagan et al, 2020;Rurangwa and Whittaker, 2020), may result in forest ecosystems that do not contribute substantially to global restoration goals. Studies like ours are important in documenting restoration processes and can serve to guide decision-making on the conservation of intact rainforest systems and future restoration management plans and actions.…”