Mount Elgon

A(i)Site contains one or more globally threatened species, B(ii)Site contains an exceptional number of species of high conservation importance, C(iii)Site contains nationally threatened or restricted habitat or vegetation types, AND/OR habitats that have severely declined in extent nationally

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Alongside threatened species, this IPA is one of the most important sites for the nationally Endangered habitat, Afromontane rainforest, hosting 35% of the national resource. Significant areas of this forest has already been lost on Mount Elgon, particularly on the more sheltered southwestern slopes where this habitat is thought to have extended to lower altitudes than at present (Langdale-Brown et al. 1964; van Breugel et al. 2015). On the drier northern slopes of this mountain, forest transitions to the drier Afromontane undifferentiated type. Although there is only a small extent of this habitat within this IPA (48 km2), Afromontane undifferentiated forest is rare nationally and so it is estimated that around 20% of the national resource lies within Mount Elgon National Park (Richards et al., In Review). Therefore this habitat type also triggers criterion C(iii) under the IPA criteria.