Virunga Environmental Programme (PEVi)

The PEVi programme aims to contribute to the long-term conservation of Virunga National Park. The project has embarked on a large-scale assessment of Virunga National Park after six years of armed conflict. This involves an assessment of the level of encroachment, human activities, and infrastructure, biological surveys, and an evaluation of the capacity of ICCN by the Government of DRC in view of major anticipated restructuring. The project continues to prioritize participatory demarcation of Virunga National Park boundaries as one of its core activities. Other activities are an agroforestry programme and environmental eduacation component that produces the 'Kacheche' magazine.

Kahuzi Biega Conservation Programme

Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB) is the most important protected area in the world for the Eastern Lowland Gorilla, Gorilla beringei graueri, and boasts of an important number of species endemic to the Albertine Rift. The park has been identified as one of the three most important conservation areas for endangered and endemic species in the Rift. The area has heavily suffered from recent wars in DRC. WWF resumed support to ICCN and PNKB in 2002— after a seven-year break due to civil unrest—with the aims of strengthening ICCN’s capacity to control and manage the park. The project also implements environmental education and agroforestry activities

International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)

This is a cross-border conservation initiative for the endangered mountain gorillas and their unique forest habitats in Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks in , in Virunga National Park in the , and in Volcanoes National Park in . The programme, implemented in partnership with Fauna and Flora International (FFI), the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), and the national park authorities of the three countries, promotes eco-tourism, ecological monitoring, community participation, and benefit-sharing. It also supports the different protected areas, and provides capacity-building for their staff.

Rwenzori Mountains Conservation and Environment Management Project

This project covers Rwenzori Mountains and Rwenzori Mountains National Park that span the three districts of Kasese, Kabarole and Bundibugyo in western . Rwenzori Mountains National Park has been a World Heritage Site since 1994. The goal of the project is that the “Conservation of the Rwenzori mountains ecosystem is enhanced and its biodiversity and water catchment’s values are maintained in harmony with sustainable utilisation of resources for the benefit of and the International communities”. Rwenzori Mountains are faced by numerous threats and challenges. Notable of these are deforestation, river basin degradation, soil erosion, and poverty, and glacial recession.

Conservation of Albertine Rift Forest in

This aim of this project is to provide additional resources to the Government of Uganda and partners to implement innovative conservation activities in the Northern Albertine Forests of . This 5-year project will cover about 250,000 hectares. The project will develop the national conservation strategy for Albertine Rift Forests as well as a monitoring and evaluation strategies for closed forests in Uganda; support to collaborative management, capacity strengthening in the National Forest Authority for improved management of Central Forest Reserves, strengthen and maintain linkages between these protected areas through incentives for forest conservation on private land, and promote incentives for alternative resource use strategies and conservation on private lands. In addition, the project will develop a detailed business plan approach to conservation funding across the Albertine Rift forests.

Support to the rehabilitation of Kibira National Park

Recent civil unrest and political changes have severely affected forests in the central part of the Albertine Rift, in particular in Kibira () Forests. The purpose of this project is to ensure the long-term conservation of the forest for the benefit, and with the participation, of neighbouring communities. An important aspect of the work is a participatory approach to natural resources management and integrated conservation and development activities, as well as awareness-raising. This project works in collaboration with INECN (the national park authorities in ) as well as with the national NGO l’Association burundaise pour la protection des oiseaux (ABO).

Itombwe Conservation Programme

This project aims at establishing Itombwe as a protected area through a forest gazettement process that will allow the identification of forest sections reserved for conservation of species of global importance and forest sections allocated to communities to undertake Community Forestry and Community Based Natural Resources Management, as well as other forest and land uses in the Itombwe massif. Its aims are that the vital ecosystem (ecological, economical and cultural) services of the Itombwe Massif are conserved and sustainably used with support from, and with benefits for, present and future generations.

Participatory Environment Management Project

The aim of this project was to develop innovative approaches for managing conservation hot spots within a rural landscape that took into consideration the needs of the resident communities, national and international stakeholders. The project was implemented in the Kasyoha-Kitomi forest reserve, a global biodiversity hotspot in south-western . The area surrounding Kasyoha-Kitomi Forest Reserve is densely populated ranging from 150 to 200 people per square km. Kasyoha-Kitomi landscape supports a population of about 200,000 people, 50,000of whom live in villages adjacent to the forest.