Nyungwe National Park is a regional biodiversity hotspot with high levels of endemism. At least 265 of the 1,100 plant species are endemic to these mountains, and of the 345 bird species, 30 are Albertine Rift endemics. Its 85 mammal species include yellow-backed and black-fronted duikers, and numerous small carnivores such as serval cats and African civets. The 13 primate species that live here are impressive, comprising some 12% of all African mainland primate species, including the near-endemic L’Hoest’s monkey and eastern chimpanzee. A single community of 600 Rwenzori colobus has been observed, the largest ever recorded of any primate on the continent.
But Nyungwe’s topography has exposed it to a variety of threats, including poaching, illegal mining, and agricultural encroachment, which have significantly endangered its biodiversity, and prevented it from providing a support system for local communities. Over the past three years, park management teams have focused their efforts on the park’s long-term sustainability through sound conservation, sustainable revenue-generating activities and ongoing community engagement to eliminate these threats.
UNESCO’s declaration of Nyungwe as a World Heritage Site is a step towards ensuring the long-term conservation of this important rainforest in central Africa. This endorsement reinforces the sense of pride and ownership Rwandans have for their national parks.
Unsustainable levels of hunting have resulted in the possible loss of species. Forest elephant and buffalo have been confirmed locally extinct while leopard, golden cat, and giant forest hog have not been seen for many years. However, given the challenges of research and observations in such a dense habitat, it is possible that some species have been missed in previous studies or still exist in very low densities.
In efforts to deepen understanding through research and monitoring, data collection is providing insights to guide the conservation management methods most effective for Nyungwe’s ecosystem functioning. Ongoing camera trapping surveys are helping to gauge species presence and abundance, particularly of the more secretive species without disrupting their behaviour, while also detecting illegal activities.
Chimpanzee trackers monitor the habituated chimp and colobus monkey populations daily through EarthRanger, collating the data digitally to provide insights into behaviour, and helping inform park management strategies. The team has also continued its tree phenology (study of plant life-cycle events), with over 2,500 trees belonging to 67 species monitored.
In collaboration with Bat Conservation International and the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, the roosting sites of the Critically Endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hilli) and the Cameroon leaf-nosed bat (Doryrhina camerunensis) are being monitored, providing best practice in conservation for these flying mammals.
The challenges facing Nyungwe include bushmeat poaching, illegal extraction of minerals, fauna, and flora for commercial purposes, and high land scarcity on the periphery of the park, which increases human-wildlife incidents and unsustainable harvesting from the park.
In the past three years, through sound conservation law enforcement and community development efforts, illegal activities are being effectively mitigated. In addition to new recruits completing their Basic Field Ranger (BFR) training, all rangers attend refresher courses annually, with human rights being a central element. Thanks to improved patrol efforts and higher rates of detection of snares and carcasses, the number of removed snares has increased steadily. In one year, 92 former illegal resource users have become eco-rangers.
Park management is continuously addressing the biodiversity threat of exotic plants, with an ongoing exercise to map the roughly 500-600 hectares of forest that is covered with exotic species for planned removal and regeneration. Around 30 hectares of degraded forest around the park were jointly reforested by park staff, eco-rangers and community members. The park-supported nurseries propagated over 40,000 seedlings of indigenous forest tree species to help their restoration and proliferation.
To help mitigate the effects of human-wildlife conflict, community members are supported with a special compensation fund available for those negatively impacted.