A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2014. / This thesis describes research that was conducted to investigate the causes of problems associated with the conservation of biodiversity in the Rwenzori Mountains National Park. The Rwenzori Mountains National Park faces conservation problems such as illegal harvesting of park resources, encroachment on the park boundary, and poor relationships between the local people and the managers of the park. These problems triggered this study because despite attempts such as intensifying park rules and regulations, implementing community-based conservation initiatives, and providing environmental education to local people to address the problems, they have persisted. This study was conducted on the premise that before a solution to these problems can be found, their nature and extent, and possible cause, need to be understood.
The study involved: a) an extensive review of the relevant literature to identify factors that affect successful conservation of biodiversity in national parks in Africa, b) a critical analysis of the role of traditional ecological knowledge in the conservation of biodiversity in national parks in Africa, c) the development of a theoretical framework that could guide an investigation into problems associated with the conservation of biodiversity in national parks using the case study of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, d) field investigations on how local people in the Rwenzori Mountains depended on the park, and what factors influence their dependence on the park, e) investigations into the environmental education provided to influence people to support conservation of the Rwenzori Mountains National park, f) the development of a generalisable scheme of factors that influence local people to illegally access and use the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, and g) preparation of a model that could serve as a framework for developing holistic community-based biodiversity conservation plans in a rural African context.
The review of the literature was done through meta-data analysis of publications systematically selected from various web search engines on the internet. This was followed by field investigations. In order to have an in-depth and holistic understanding of the issues investigated, a mixed-methods approach to data collection was used. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 163 randomly selected respondents from households in villages within 5 km of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park boundary. The study also involved content analysis of the formal environmental education syllabus documents, and documents on the Rwenzori Region Environmental Education Strategy and its implementation.
It was found that factors responsible for both the success and failure of conserving biodiversity in national parks were socio-cultural and economic in nature. Although there was an increasing number of studies in the literature advocating for the consideration of traditional ecological knowledge in the conservation and management of national parks in Africa, most of those studies are theoretical, based on logical accounts and contestable historical reviews. In the Rwenzori Mountains, the local community illegally accessed the park to harvest 87 plant species, hunt 46 species of animals, and to conduct various activities. Illegal access to the park was influenced by a range of factors which interacted in myriad ways. Some of the factors (such as traditional beliefs) were situated inside mindsets of individuals and others (such as unpredicted weather conditions, lack of alternative means of livelihood and survival, commercial benefits, and bureaucratic procedures for legally accessing resources) were external to the individual. Previous attempts by the park staff to address illegal access to the park, and the associated resource harvesting problems, were judged to have been unsuccessful because the interventions did not target the underlying factors.
This thesis argues for the use of holistic frameworks in investigating and addressing problems associated with the conservation of biodiversity in the Rwenzori Mountains National Park and has demonstrated how such frameworks could be developed. An adaptable model which could enhance more effective community-based biodiversity conservation has been proposed and recommended for future interventions in the management of national parks in a rural African context.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/15142 |
| Date | 11 August 2014 |
| Creators | Muhumuza, Moses |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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