The National dialogue on chimpanzee conservation – using culture and community resources, 6th June 2024
The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) has organised a national level stakeholders’ dialogue that will focus on presenting emerging chimpanzee conservation issues from grassroots conservationists in Rwenzori and Bunyoro and devising conservation strategies; and creating a platform for dialogue between national and grassroots chimpanzee conservationists, with view to influence policy and practice.
CCFU conducted regional dialogues that focused on discussing the progress and challenges for chimpanzee conservation amidst climate change, human chimpanzee interactions, among other challenges. Representatives of community based organisations, cultural leaders, private forest owners, state conservation institutions, media, the private sector and other grassroots conservationists participated in these engagements.
CCFU uses a ‘Culture in Development’ approach to research and design appropriate interventions for conservation. With support from the Arcus Foundation, the CCFU’s #CultureForChimps project aims to strengthen existing cultural and community resources to support the respect and value, and conservation of chimpanzees and their habitats, ensuring sustainable development for host communities, in the Bunyoro and Rwenzori regions of Uganda.
CCFU’s efforts to conserve the chimpanzee in Rwenzori and Bunyoro.
CCFU works with local communities, state and non-state agencies to foster a culturally-aware approach to conservation work. Our approach is premised on the conviction that drawing on community-based cultural and natural resources and worldviews can be a strong strategy for sustaining development efforts geared towards conservation.
In 2014 and 2018, CCFU carried out a desk study and action research respectively that confirmed a significant nexus between culture and conservation, with a particular focus on the great apes, especially the chimpanzees. The research highlighted cultural resources linked to ancestry, genealogy, identity, spirituality, social practices, legends and folklore and traditional medicine. It was concluded that such cultural and social attachments contribute to communities’ motivation to conserve nature, and the great apes in particular.
In light of the above, and with the continued support from the Arcus Foundation, CCFU implements the #CultureForChimps project which harnesses positive cultural resources to strengthen the collaborative conservation of chimpanzees and habitat restoration in the Bunyoro and Rwenzori regions. Utilisation of indigenous knowledge systems for chimpanzee conservation, livelihood options, behavioral change, forest corridor restoration, intergenerational cultural dialogues, mitigating human-chimpanzee conflicts, understanding chimpanzee behaviors and national stakeholders’ chimpanzee dialogues are being implemented.
For your participation in this upcoming event, reach out to CCFU by email (ccfu@crossculturalfoundation.or.ug) or calling +256393294675 (office line) or +256774248849 (Aliguma Ahabyona, CCFU’s Programme and Communication Coordinator). Online participation will also be possible.
Some CCFU resources of chimpanzee conservation in Uganda
- VIDEO: Using culture and community resources to conserve chimpanzees in Bunyoro 2023
- Hosting chimpanzees in private forests: The experience and contribution of private forest owners in Bunyoro – 2022
- Conserving chimpanzees in Uganda – experiences using cultural and community resources-2021
- Culture and the conservation of great apes in Uganda -2018
- Culture and conservation: Investing the linkages between Biodiversity Protection and Cultural Values and Practices -2016
- The 3rd National Stakeholders’ Dialogue in 2022
Read more about CCFU’s conservation programme