PAWAR in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Overview | Data

Objectives

  • To satisfy the overarching gol of the WHRC and its collaborators with respsect to the PAWAR project inn general and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in particular: to allow better management of the Albertine Rift's network of protected areas by identifying the location of active deforestation, as well as by aiding predictions of potential future threats.
  • To work with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to integrate their field data iwth remotely sensed images and analyses in order to better allocate conservation resources throughout the protected area.
  • To undertake modeling exercises that will help managers better understand the population dynamics and interspecies interactions between megafauna populations within and surrounding the protected area.

Products

  • UWA field data, including local population, parishes, town centers, and roads, overlaid on georeferenced, remotely-sensed images of the Park and surrounding landscape.
  • Maps depicting UWA field survey data, including sitings and signs of gorillas, elephants, chimpanzees, and duikers, as well as signs and incidences of poaching and human encroachment on the Park's boundary. These data area then used in modeling analyses to determine the severity of the threat to animal populations in various locations around the Park.
  • Detailed survey-effort analyses that will help UWA managers determine the optimal survey design for different sectors of the Park.
  • A forest change analysis based on remotely-sensed imagery from the 1980s-2000s that depicts changes to mature forest vegetation in the form of forest loss, degradation, and regeneration.

Figure showing the population densities of districts

and parishes surrounding Bwindi Impenentrable National Park. These

data were obtained from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and are

displayed over Aster imagery.

The left figure displays changes in forest cover between 1987 and 2000 derived from Landsat imagery. The figure on the right shows locations at which Park managers encountered signs of chimpanzees, elephants, or gorillas within and around the Park. UWA has also gathered data for several other species not displayed here.

 

The figure on the left shows the density of gorilla sitings by Park managers conducting foot patrols. The figure on the right shows the distribution and density of poaching activities within Bwindi. It should be noted that these values have not yet been corrected to account for differences in survey effort.

 

Overview | Data