Conservation of vertebrates and plants in Uganda: Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas and other sites of national importance
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Conservation Science and Practice
Abstract
Uganda is one of the most species rich countries in Africa because of the presence
of several major biomes. However, it is also a country that has lost much of its natural
habitat to agriculture. Uganda is a country that has been better surveyed for its
biodiversity than many African countries, but despite this, there has not been a
comprehensive analysis of the critical sites that contribute to biodiversity conservation
at a global, as well as at a national level. We here present such an assessment
using mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants as surrogate taxa. We identified
36 terrestrial sites that are of sufficient global importance to qualify as Key
Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), using the Global Standard for the Identification of
KBAs, which complement an additional nine freshwater sites. National red listing
of species and ecosystems was used to identify sites of national importance for conservation.
We employ a conservation planning approach using Marxan to identify
the minimum set of sites needed to conserve all the globally and nationally threatened
species and nationally threatened habitats in Uganda. The findings show that
most of the remaining natural habitat in Uganda is important for the conservation
of globally and nationally threatened species and threatened habitat. Large areas of
irreplaceable habitat occur outside protected areas, although more extensive surveys
of these areas would likely reduce the area that is irreplaceable.
Description
Keywords
Biodiversity, Conservation planning, Key Biodiversity Areas, Marxan, National Red List
Citation
Plumptre, A. J., Ayebare, S., Behangana, M., Forrest, T. G., Hatanga, P., Kabuye, C., ... & Prinsloo, S. (2019). Conservation of vertebrates and plants in Uganda: Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas and other sites of national importance. Conservation Science and Practice, 1(2), e7. https://doi.org/10.1002/csp2.7