Summary
 

Key to the conservation of species and resources on Mount Elgon are the activities of the growing human population that live on the mountain. Project Elgon ‘96 sought to assess the impact of humans on plant and animal communities by studying the effect of different land uses on plant, small mammal and bird community composition. The project assessed human activities in the park and in adjacent parishes by examining the sustainability of current land use practices, and attitudes towards sustainable land use practices, as well as assessing the use of and attitudes towards family planning.

Despite reduced human populations in the forest zone of Mount Elgon National Park (due to resettlement programmes in the last two decades), the impact of current grazing on animal and plant populations is still considerable. Previous cultivation and grazing (dating to before resettlement) its still influencing animal and plant community composition. Grazing maintains high altitude grasslands in the forest zone which contain rare and endemic species. Heavy grazing also prevents the regeneration of trees. The uniformity of habitat structure induced by grazing has an indirect impact on small mammal diversity which is lowest in intensively grazed areas. Where grazed forest has been left to regenerate, tree regeneration and plant species richness decreases. This may partly be due to the dominance of dense stands of monocarpic Mimulopsis alpina in the least disturbed areas. Small mammal diversity was greater in these areas due to increased habitat diversity, but greatest in abandoned cultivation plots. The majority of these species were commonly associated with human disturbance or cultivation. These areas were generally dominated by a small number of plant species, the majority of which were commonly associated with disturbed or formerly cultivated places. Soil nutrient levels were highest in these areas, probably due to burning or the application of manure prior to cultivation. In areas which had been cleared for cultivation or grazing 15-20 years ago, plant species richness was highest including a number of tree species indicative of early successional stages. Three new species of small mammals were recorded for Mount Elgon during the course of the study, and a significant relationship was found between habitat diversity and small mammal species diversity. This was the first study into the effects of grazing and cultivation on small mammal and plant community composition in the afromontane forest zone.

Although human populations living inside the park were much smaller than those living adjacent to the park, their impact on environmental resources appeared to be greater. People living in the park used very few sustainable cultivation measures (such as agroforestry, soil mulching or crop rotation) and few practised zero grazing systems or used new more efficient breeds of cattle. This was probably due to the disincentive of insecure land tenure, and may also have been due to lower levels of education and the long distance from information sources about sustainable techniques. Although sustainable techniques were more widely practised by people living outside the park, it is clear that the proportion of people using such measures must increase dramatically if currently declining crop yields are to be stopped, and if the growing population in the area are to be sustained without encroaching further into the park. It was found that awareness and use of modern family planning methods must be increased significantly in order to keep population levels within sustainable levels. 10% of married people were using family planning measures, 24% were planning to in the future, 29% were aware of family planning but were not practising it or planning to, and 37% were not aware of family planning. Awareness and usage was significantly lower in the National Park than in outside the park. 75% of respondents wished to receive further information about family planning. Despite low current usage, family planning appears to be the main cause of a reduction in the proportion of the population under 5 years.

This study has highlighted the needs of the park and the people, and supports the participatory approach that the National Park and other related organisations working in the area have adopted. Any future progress towards conservation and development must take into account the needs of the park and the people. It is likely that plant and animal communities will be slow to respond to any reduction in human impact in the park, and this should be taken into consideration when planning future management strategies.
 
 

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