Uganda Identifies 42 Important Plant Areas for Conservation

Despite covering only 2 percent of the world’s land area, Uganda boasts a rich variety of flora that serves as a foundation for food security, medicine, water conservation, and biodiversity sustenance.

Uganda has identified 42 Important Plant Areas (IPAs), critical sites requiring urgent conservation action to protect priority plant species.

The initiative, spearheaded by Makerere University in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, marks the first time the IPA concept has been applied in Uganda, aligning the country with global efforts to safeguard plant diversity.

The identification of these sites was guided by three key criteria: the presence of threatened species, exceptional botanical richness, and threatened habitats.

Among the designated IPAs are well-known protected areas such as Mabira, Budongo, and Kashoya-Kitomi Central Forest Reserves, as well as Semuliki, Lake Mburo, Murchison Falls, Kibale, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Parks.

However, several identified sites remain unprotected, including Tororo Rock, Buwerere, Kacumbala Rock, and Buhweju, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts beyond Uganda’s formal protected area network.

Speaking at the Uganda Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPA) workshop held at Makerere University, Professor James Kalema from Makerere University’s Department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology, and Biotechnology, who also serves as the Chairperson of the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s (UWA) Board of Trustees, emphasized the importance of prioritizing these sites to maximize community-led conservation efforts.

" We will develop initiatives to work with stakeholders to come up with strategies for conservation. Eco-tourism services will be introduced as a pathway to conservation, helping communities understand the value of these important plant areas while creating economic opportunities," he said.

Buyinza Mukadasi, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academics at Makerere University, emphasized the significance of plant life for human well-being and the need for conservation efforts.

"The identified IPAs span different regions of Uganda, with around 80% falling within existing protected areas, while the rest remain unprotected and in urgent need of conservation efforts, he said.

While Uganda has made remarkable strides in biodiversity conservation, with 10 National Parks, 12 Wildlife Reserves, and 506 Central Forest Reserves, over 50 percent of the country’s wildlife resources lie outside protected areas.

Many of the newly identified Important Plant Areas fall within unprotected landscapes, making them vulnerable to agriculture, logging, and mining.

With the support of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, conservationists secured three years of funding to strengthen research efforts and build a national database to provide accessible information for policymakers, conservationists, and the public.

Iain Darbyshire, Senior Research Leader at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, stressed the need for more expertise in identifying key conservation areas.

"We need to create more information and document species extinctions to guide conservation efforts. Reliable data is crucial, but research becomes difficult without it," he told the Nile Post.

Uganda is home to an incredibly diverse plant life, ranging from the semi-arid landscapes of the northeast to the lush montane rainforests of the southwest.

Despite covering only 2 percent of the world’s land area, the country boasts a rich variety of flora that serves as a foundation for food security, medicine, water conservation, and biodiversity sustenance.

However, population explosion and land demand have led to widespread deforestation and habitat destruction, putting many species at risk of extinction.

As Uganda moves forward with its plant conservation agenda, researchers at Makerere University and their international partners have proposed key recommendations among them is strengthening policies to formally recognise and protect Important Plant Areas, engaging communities in conservation efforts through awareness campaigns and sustainable livelihood projects and restoring degraded plant habitats and promoting sustainable land-use practices.

The identification of these Important Plant Areas aligns with Uganda’s growing commitment to conservation, complementing global biodiversity targets such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity.