Insecurity, operational problems dog tourism development in the Virungas

The on-and-off violence instability along the Rwanda-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Uganda-DRC borders greatly hurts tourism development in the greater Virunga area. It has also affected the implementation of the trans-boundary strategic plan that was initiated to boost tourism, especially gorilla trekking across the three countries, a meeting convened to review the plan heard last week.Several groups operating in the DR Congo M23 rebels, as well as Uganda’s marauding Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony have made the management of the Greater Virunga landscape, also referred to as the central Albertine rift, difficult, participants observed.The rift is one of the most species-rich area, with adjoining protected areas and more vertebrates than any other single set of contiguous protected areas in Africa. The trans-boundary strategic plan is in its sixth year of implementation. The 10-year plan for the Greater Virunga was developed in 2006 by the three protected areas authorities of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as other conservation partners to curb poaching and ensure safety of mountain gorillas. A secretariat was set up in 2008 in Kigali to co-ordinate the implementation of the plan.However, during its review workshop in Kigali on Friday, stakeholders were concerned over the plan’s slow institutional process and lack of legal entity for its executive secretariat. They also said the project lack funds and capacity to make an impact.“Although numerous achievements have been made by the various stakeholders, internal and external factors have been constantly changing at national and regional levels. “That’s why it is important for us to take stock of the situation and evaluate what has been achieved and readjust where necessary to ensure smooth implementation,” said Therese Musabe, the deputy executive secretary of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration.The Greater Virunga Trans-boundary Collaboration is a mechanism for strategic, trans-boundary, collaborative management of the greater Virunga area. The trans-boundary collaboration was originally intended to curb poaching and ensure the safety of the mountain gorillas, but it later expanded to include the northern part of Virunga in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parks in Uganda such as Queen Elizabeth and Semuliki National Parks and the Rwenzori Mountain ranges.Its goal is to improve conservation of wildlife and habitats in the three countries, as well as strengthen the ecological services and, thus, contribute to improving the socio-economic benefits to the communities. Musabe said the review of the strategic plan was aimed at finding an effective tool that would facilitate conservation and sustainable development in the Virungas through the existing trans-boundary mechanisms.Rwanda now shares revenues earned under the trans-boundary collaboration with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.In 2012, Rwanda received 28,448 tourists in the Virunga National Park, 26,904 of whom visited mountain gorillas.Since 2005, when the revenue sharing programme started, over Rwf500m has been provided by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to finance development projects around the Volcanoes National Park.Last year, the Rwanda Development Board remitted to the Democratic Republic of Congo over $400,000 (about Rwf256m), as part of the money earned by Kwitonda gorilla group.RDB has also transferred Rwf182m to the Social Guaranty Fund for wildlife damage compensation.“We are looking forward to seeing better tourism revenues earned from the region this year as the area becomes more stable, among other positive factors,” said Rica Rwigamba, RDB head of tourism.She said tour operators in the region organised themselves in co-operatives, which has enhanced revenue collection and the parks’ security.Rwanda recorded an increase of 12 per cent in tourism receipts last year, up from $251.8m (Rwf161b) in 2011 to $281.8m (Rwf180.2b) in 2012, mostly dominated by leisure (46 per cent) and business travel (37.3 per cent).