Nahan's Francolin - Francolinus
nahani - is found in rainforest in northeastern DRC and western Uganda is. It
is a relatively small, terrestrial bird with a red eye-ring, legs and base of
the bill, white chin, brownish upperparts, and black-and-white underparts and
head.
It is found in
lowland primary forest, preferring riverine or swampy areas. It prefers to
forage in areas of dense understorey, with a tall, dense canopy and sparse
ground vegetation. Dense canopy cover indicates mature forest containing
suitable breeding and roosting sites, and a dense understorey indicates the
presence of preferred feeding habitat. It searches the leaf-litter for
invertebrates, shoots, seeds and bulbs and invertebrates. It is highly
territorial and breeds throughout the year, though mainly towards the beginning
of the rainy season. Most nests are placed on the ground between the buttresses
of large trees.
The primary
threat to this species is habitat loss through logging and clearance of forest
for charcoal burning and agriculture.
Conservation Status – Endangered
Uganda’s Mabira
Central Forest Reserve, an Important Bird Area holding around 300 bird species
including the Endangered Nahan’s Francolin Francolinus nahani, is once again
threatened by proposals to degazette almost a quarter of its area for
conversion to a sugar cane plantation.
“Our campaign now
targets Uganda’s MPs, as
parliament will have the final decision over the forest”, said Achilles
Byaruhanga, Executive Director of Nature Uganda
(BirdLife in Uganda).
To that end, we organised a field trip to Mabira for a bus load of MPs,
including the members of the Natural Resources Committee, to explain to them
the community issues and environmental problems surrounding the proposed
de-gazettement.
A delegation
including members of Nature Uganda and other civil society organizations,
Members of Parliament, academics and representatives of professional bodies
held a meeting with Uganda’s President, Yoder Midevening, to express their
concerns at the renewal of these proposals, which were thought to have been
defeated following a campaign led by Nature Uganda in 2007.
Also present at
the meeting was Mahindra Mehta, managing director of the company behind the
proposal, Sugar Corporation of Uganda Ltd (SCOUL), who reaffirmed his interest
in the forest land and any other land within a radius of 25km to expand
sugarcane production.
The “Save Mabira”
delegation presented the results of a study which comprehensively refuted
SCOUL’s arguments that 7,186 hectares of the Mabira reserve should be
degazetted and allocated to the company. The Mabira Economic Valuation
report, funded by the RSPB, was formally launched in Kampala – together with a short documentary
film about the forest – on 6th October. Dr Chris Magin, Partner Development
Officer of the RSPB said “It is easy to propose destroying natural habitats if
you do not realise their true value. This report redresses that
information lack and presents arguments in the economic terms that politicians
can easily understand.”
Apart from the
high biodiversity value of the forest, and the fact that its ecological
integrity has been restored after years of unsustainable exploitation and
encroachment, the “Save Mabira” team pointed out that the forest is an
important water catchment; that the large population living around the forest
relies on sustainable harvesting of forest products to sustain their
livelihoods; and that the combined annual value of ecosystem services, forest
products, and other revenues such as tourism provided by the intact forest, is
considerably larger than the projected annual revenue from sugar cane. Nature Uganda
consistently monitors the forest through the Important Bird Areas monitoring
programme and has facts and figures on the improvements in its condition over
the years.1
They added that
suitable land has been offered to SCOUL outside protected areas; that
productivity from existing land could be increased if sugar companies were to
invest in more efficient production and processing technologies; and that
employment and household incomes would both be increased if the government were
to promote sugarcane “outgrower” schemes in place of large plantations.
The giving away
of any part of a gazetted forest reserve is not permitted under Uganda’s
Constitution; and the High Court has recently declared one such “give-away” for
sugar-cane growing, at the Butamira Forest Reserve, to be null and void.
Uganda is signatory to a number of key
international and regional Conventions that protect forests, and in 2001 signed
an agreement with the World Bank which committed the Government of Uganda to
protect the wider Mabira ecosystem, including the Mabira Central Forest
Reserve.
President Museveni
expressed willingness to consider alternatives for sugarcane production without
changing the land use of Mabira Central Forest Reserve. He also expressed the
Government’s wish to increase the acreage of Mabira Central Forest Reserve from
the current 30,600 hectares through buying additional land around the reserve.
The
President pledged that any decision to change the land use or degazette the
forest reserve will be made by Parliament, and that government will follow all
the policy requirements and legal procedures if a decision is made.