Queen Elizabeth-Maramagambo

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

Queen Elizabeth-Maramagambo qualifies as an IPA under criteria A(i) as it supports at least 12 globally threatened plant species, including one Critically Endangered, three Endangered and four Vulnerable species. QEM also holds 137 (13.2% of national total) useful plants species, ranking as the 7th most species-rich site in the network, and triggering criterion B(iii). Lastly, this IPA meets criterion C(iii), due to the presence of two nationally threatened habitat types: 51% of the national resource of the evergreen and semi-deciduous thicket (CR), comprising the best and most protected site nationally for this habitat; additionally, it is the best site nationally for freshwater marshes (VU), making up as 4.3% the national resource (Richards et al. 2024).

The Queen Elizabeth-Maramagambo (QEM) IPA comprises Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) and Maramagambo Central Forest Reserves (CFRs). The IPA covers a total area of 2,261.0 km2 and is located in the western arm of the East African Rift Valley, also known as the Albertine Rift, in western Uganda. It is situated across eight administrative districts: Kasese, Kitagwenda, Rubirizi, Mitooma, Kanungu, Kamwenge, Ibanda and Rukungiri. The QEM IPA forms the international boundary for a considerable part of its perimeter with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). River Ishasha in the west is the natural boundary.
North Maramagambo CFR lies entirely within Queen Elizabeth National Park while South Maramagambo CFR lies within Kigezi Wildlife Reserve (Howard et al. 1996). The QEM IPA boundary therefore follows QENP with the addition of South Maramagambo CFR in the south. The QEM IPA is contiguous with the Parc National des Virunga in DRC. Together, these two completely encircle Lake Edward. Lake George is connected to Lake Edward by the Kazinga Channel and delineates part of the northeastern boundary of this IPA. Within this IPA are also several crater lakes, while the wetlands in the north of QENP have been designated as a Ramsar site (Lake George). QENP also neighbours Kyambura Wildlife Reserve, south of Lake George.

While much of QENP is dominated by low plant diversity savanna, there are important forest ecosystems within Maramagambo CFRs, with several threatened species, alongside botanically interesting thickets and wetlands along the Kazinga Channel and Lake George.

The Queen Elizabeth-Maramagambo (QEM) IPA is a botanically important IPA, with at least 353 species of vascular plants recorded from QENP alone (Kalema 2005), and 414 species of trees and shrubs reported from North and South Maramagambo (Lwanga 1996). There is higher diversity in forest areas of the IPA than in savanna, and this may account for the difference in the two figures.

The QEM IPA has plant species of conservation significance, including ones that are threatened as well as others of a restricted range in their geographical distribution. The Critically Endangered Ugandan endemic Encephalartos whitelockii (Bösenberg 2024) occurs in QENP, albeit in a very narrow strip along the Mpanga River Gorge as most of the population, by far, is outside the park. The globally Endangered Balsamocitrus dawei (Amani et al. 2022) is known to occur in South Maramagambo. This Ugandan endemic tree is known only from the western forests. Commelina zenkeri, also known from Maramagambo CFR) is globally Endangered (Lovell & Cheek 2020). This herbaceous species has a highly disjunct distribution, known from only four forests in Uganda, and is also native to Central and Eastern Cameroon, although may be extinct in the latter region of Cameroon (Lovell & Cheek 2020). Equilabium janthinothryx is restricted to Uganda (Mweya Peninsula in QENP) and DRC (EOO 9,331 km2), and assessed by as Endangered (Kalema 2024).

Pavetta bagshawei var. leucosphaera, a range-restricted and globally Vulnerable (Rotton et al. 2023) shrub or small tree, is only known from QENP and eastern DRC (POWO 2024). Globimetula kivuensis is globally Vulnerable (Gereau et al. 2019) and known from Queen Elizabeth National Park and North Maramagambo CFR. Aeglopsis eggelingii, a globally Vulnerable species (Amani et al. 2022), also occurs in Maramagambo (Lwanga 1996).
While Maramagambo CFRs hosts many of this IPAs threatened species, some are known from elsewhere in QEM. Brachystephanus coeruleus subsp. coeruleus, a globally Vulnerable species (Luke et al. 2015), is known from Bunyaruguru village, very close to the boundary of, and hence likely to occur in, Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Alongside several globally threatened species, QEM IPA also hosts nationally important areas of habitat. The site hosts over 50% of Uganda’s evergreen and semi-deciduous thickets, a habitat assessed as Critically Endangered nationally (Richards et al. 2024). This habitat is predicted to have previously dominated much of the area between Lake Victoria and the Albertine Rift south of the Ruwenzori Mountains (Langdale-Brown et al. 1964; van Breugel et al. 2015), however, this has been almost completely transformed to agriculture. The protected areas of habitat within QENP, largely along the Kazinga Channel and Lake Edward shore, is therefore of great importance as the largest area of this habitat that remains nationally. This habitat is described as type (i) in the ‘Habitat and geology’ section.

Furthermore, the freshwater marsh north of Lake George is one of the best examples of this nationally Vulnerable habitat. Although this habitat is of low botanical diversity, dominated by Cyperus papyrus, it is highly important for the provision of ecosystem services (see Key ecosystem services). This IPA contains 4.3% of this important national resource (Richards et al. 2024).

QEM also contains a significant number of useful plants, totalling 137 species and comprising 13% of the national checklist (O'Sullivan et al. in press 2024). Significantly, 104 useful species found at this site are medicinal plants, including Vachellia hockii, Warburgia ugandensis and Capparis tomentosa. The site also holds 66 plants used for material (i.e.: building materials) these include Bridelia scleroneura and Borassus aethiopum.

The composition and structure of vegetation QEM IPA is quite diverse, largely influenced by climate, soils and human and animal activities. The rainfall in this IPA varies across the landscape, with the driest parts being in the savanna areas to the north and south of Lake Edward where average monthly rainfall is 30-40 mm (UWA in prep.). The savannas are, therefore, partially maintained by the limited rainfall at these sites and with increasing rainfall levels to the north and south of QENP, forest becomes the predominant vegetation type. The QEM IPA has two wet seasons during the months of March - May and August - November. The rest of the months are dry with the driest months being January, February and July. The total annual rainfall ranges between 500 – 1500 mm.

Langdale-Brown et al. (1964) recognized six broad vegetation categories: i) Moist thicket with Grewia, Vepris, Acacia (Senegalia) brevispica; ii) Grass savanna of Hyparrhenia filipendula; iii) Dry Acacia savanna with Cymbopogon and Themeda especially in the Ishasha sector and also in some of the crater lakes; iv) Communities on sites with impeded drainage supporting Acacia and Imperata; v) Cyperus papyrus swamp, especially around the shores of Lake George; vi) Cynometra-Celtis Forest which dominates the Maramgambo forests.

During the Pleistocene, QEM IPA was influenced by tectonic activity associated with the formation of the rift valley (UWA in prep.). Consequently, the area has a number of volcanic craters, some of which contain high levels of salt, including Lake Katwe and Bunyampaka. The IPA is dominated by high potassium volcanic deposits, rare carbonatite lava and alluvial rift soils including lacustrine deposits and alluvium in the north (Uganda Wildlife Authority 2024). These account for the rich savannah vegetation within the IPA.

Lake George Game Reserve (689 km2) and Lake Edward Game Reserve (559 km2) were the first protected areas to be established in the area, in 1925 and 1930 respectively; South Maramagambo was established in 1932 (Howard 1991), while QENP was first established in 1952 and is now managed by UWA (UWA 2024).

The IPA encompasses most of Lake George Ramsar site which was designated in 1988. Queen Elizabeth National Park, together with Lake George, constitute an Important Bird Area - IBA (Byaruhanga et al. 2001). This site was subsequently designated a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA), on account of the presence of two globally Endangered species: Balsamocitrus dawei, and Loxodonta africana – the African Elephant - (Gobush et al. 2022). The area north of Lake George is a wetland of international importance and as such has been recognised as Ramsar site. This Ramsar Site covers an area of 150 km2 (Ramsar Sites Information Service 1988). QENP, the Maramgamabo CFRs, Kigezi WR, Kyambura WR and Lake George Ramsar site together form the Queen Elizabeth National Park Biosphere Reserve, designated in 1983. This forms a large area in which the human-wildlife nexus consolidates the element of community relationships and interests in wildlife management areas. This helps to harmonise issues of access and utilisation of natural resources.

The QEM IPA forms part of the transboundary conservation landscape with the Virunga National Park of DRC which facilitates the cross-border migration for animal species. This attracts attention and interest in the integrity of the DRC ecosystems as spillover effects can affect conservation programmes in the IPA.

Despite falling within several protected areas, there are many threats to QEM IPA. Invasive plant species such as Lantana camara, Mimosa pigra, and Parthenium hysterophorus occur in this IPA. There are also introduced species such as Cascabela thevetia (Syn: Thevetia peruviana), Opuntia vulgaris and Catharanthus roseus. A few native species are problematic and these include Dichrostachys cinerea, Imperata cylindrica, Pistia stratiotes and Cymbopogon nardus. The invasive species have altered species composition, vegetation structure, reducing suitable habitat for animals, and the visibility of game for tourism activity. They also have the potential to reduce species diversity, thus reducing ecosystem health and integrity. The areas around Kikorongo, Mweya Peninsula, along the Kazinga channel and Channel Track, and Ishasha Sector, are particularly altered by D. cinerea and P. hysterophorus (pers. observ. Kalema 2024).

There are twelve fishing enclaves in the IPA (UWA 2024). The fishing community poses a threat to some of the resources, such as trees by cutting them for fuel wood to smoke the fish but also for domestic use. The areas surrounding Kazinga Channel and the two lakes Edward and George are particularly affected. Overfishing, illegal grazing, burning of vegetation and hunting of wild animals sometimes do occur.

The Ramsar site is also threatened by pollution upstream of Lake George from the stockpiled copper tailings (finely ground waste rock, left after copper extraction) from the Kilembe copper mines and the inflow of agricultural chemicals into the wetland resulting from the Mubuku Irrigation Scheme. This is manifested through its inclusion in the Montreux Record of Ramsar Sites Under Threat (Ramsar Sites Information Service 1988, Byaruhanga et al. 2001). There is also mining of limestone in the Dura Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park by Hima Cement (U) Ltd, and this has been going on since 2006, causing destruction and degradation of ecologically sensitive habitats in the park, including the rivers Dura and Rwankerebe, and riverine ecosystems. These threats to wetland areas may particularly harm the ecological integrity of the nationally threatened freshwater marshes, of which Lake George Ramsar site is one of the best examples nationally.

A number of triggers exist for human-wildlife conflicts with communities surrounding this IPA. The key ones are problem animals that damage crops and injure or kill livestock; encroachment on the protected areas; illegal access and utilisation of resources e.g. by poaching, grazing, and tree cutting. In a few areas, the boundary of the protected area is not clearly marked.

Wildfires are set in this IPA at the beginning of dry seasons to encourage growth of young green and fresh vegetation that can attract wild animals to the park periphery for easy trapping by poachers. Management of the QENP also practices prescribed burning as a management tool to avoid fuel accumulation which leads to hot wildfires that would devastate the vegetation. South Maramagambo is reported to occasionally be affected by illegal mechanical tree harvesting as well as pit-sawing and charcoal burning (WWF and ACCU 2016). The high-quality and durable timber species Parinari excelsa is particularly targeted for harvesting by pit sawyers, yet it was reported not to be regenerating well in the forest (Howard 1991). Other species vulnerable to felling are Entandrophragma angolense, E. excelsum, Lovoa swynnertonii and L. trichilioides. There is also some encroachment on the Maramagambo forest, harvesting of medicinal herbs, gold mining, and harvesting of walking sticks, hoe handles, and banana supports (WWF and ACCU 2016).

One of the Focus Areas for management in this IPA by Uganda Wildlife Authority is Ecosystem Management. Under this, they are making an effort to control invasive and exotic species using manual means. They are also endeavouring to restore habitats degraded through encroachment and other illegal activities (UWA 2024). Through the Community Conservation Focus Area, UWA is sensitizing people about the value of protecting habitats for sustainable livelihoods. They are also initiating income-generating projects for communities to reduce their dependence on resources in the IPA.

Lying in the Albertine Rift, the QEM IPA, is a critical biodiversity site in this area. It is an important resource for community livelihood and their socio-economic activities. With this IPA encompassing the Biosphere Reserve, there is an opportunity to demonstrate sustainable approaches for resource utilisation by communities living in the vicinity. This arrangement is meant to improve the relationship between people and the Management of the Protected Area. As a tourism centre, it provides an opportunity for the surrounding communities to engage in ecotourism and related income-generation activities such as the sale of craft materials to tourists. The local communities are mainly engaged in fishing from Lakes George and Edward. There is some local hunting for bushmeat and harvesting of plants for medicinal purposes. The village enclaves of Katunguru and the Katwe Town Council get their water supplies from the freshwater bodies in the IPA.

The wetlands along the Kazinga Channel and Lake George play an important function of water filtration, improving water quality for use by the communities, and control of floods in the surrounding areas. The Lake George floodplain is also known to encompass small peatlands, substrates that contribute substantially to CO2 storage and global climate change mitigation (Elshehawi et al. 2019).

James Kalema, Makerere University Herbarium

Kennedy Mukasa, Makerere University Herbarium

Samuel Ojelel, Makerere University Herbarium

Sophie Richards, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Florence O'Sullivan, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Iain Darbyshire, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Date of first assessment: 10th Apr 2024

Isaac Kiyingi, National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFoRRI)