How Biodiversity Monitoring is Turning Forest Conservation into a Livelihood in Alimugonza
The Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda is implementing a biodiversity monitoring program in Alimugonza that links forest health to community livelihoods. By training residents to protect the forest, the program boosts income through sustainable activities like beekeeping and potential biodiversity credits.
Why it matters
This model demonstrates how conservation can be economically viable for local communities, providing a blueprint for sustainable development in forest-rich regions.
For communities living alongside forests, biodiversity is not an abstract environmental concept. It is part of everyday life.
The forest provides water, food, medicinal plants, pollination and other resources that sustain households. When managed responsibly, it can also become a source of income.
In Alimugonza Communal Land Association in Masindi District, the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) is helping residents build that connection between conservation and livelihoods through a biodiversity monitoring programme that puts the community at the centre of protecting its forest.
The approach is based on a simple idea: the more communities understand what lives in their forest, the better equipped they are to protect it — and the more opportunities they have to benefit from keeping it healthy.
According to Jonathan Odongo, Biodiversity Programme Officer at ECOTRUST, the relationship between people and nature is inseparable.
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