relation to eco-tourism.^92 Biodiversity conservation in Budongo is further explored in the
excellent report by Howard et al. (1996) but with reference to trees and shrubs, birds,
small mammals, butterflies and moths, i.e. without specific reference to chimpanzees.
PHVA
In January 1997, a four-day Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) for
Uganda’s chimpanzees was held in Entebbe (Edroma et al.1997). PHVAs have been
conducted for a number of endangered species. The organizers are the Conservation
Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), a subgroup of IUCN based in the USA. Fifty-seven
participants, from Uganda and eight other countries, attended. Besides presentations,
much time was devoted to establishing what was known and not known about the
distribution and numbers of chimpanzees in Uganda.
The objectives of the PHVA included:
● to formulate priorities for a practical management programme for survival and
recovery of the chimpanzee in wild habitat;
● to develop a risk analysis and population simulation model for the chimpanzee
which can be used to guide and evaluate management and research activities;
● to identify specific habitat areas that should be afforded strict levels of protection and
management.
Recommendations included the following:
● Budongo Forest should be one of four key forests given priority for chimpanzee
conservation (the others being Bugoma, Kibale and Kasyoha-Kitomi).
● Some Ugandan Forest Reserves, about whose chimpanzees little or nothing was
known, were designated for censusing.
● The importance of some unprotectedareas for chimpanzees was stressed.
● A policy was needed for chimpanzees living in forest outliers in agricultural areas.
● Conservation education programmes focusing on chimpanzees should be developed.
One of the great achievements of this PHVA was to put together a series of tables
outlining the status and distribution of chimpanzees, and the threats facing them in the
different forests. Tables 12.2 and 12.3 provided an invaluable guide to further work on
censusing the chimpanzee population that followed.
228 The future of Budongo’s chimpanzees
(^92) Chimpanzee tourism has yet to reach its full potential in Uganda. The two tourism sites in Budongo
Forest are seriously under-utilized; at one of them, Kaniyo–Pabidi, chimpanzee viewing is very successful
indeed. At other sites, notably Kibale Forest, chimpanzee viewing is more popular than at Budongo at the
present time.