<b>By Gerald Tenywa</b> UGANDA’s effort to restore the degraded areas of Mt. Elgon National Park has been hailed at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg. Conservationists speaking before launching a new publication on forest landscape restoration, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), said Elgon was a remarkable global experience. Addressing the conservationists, Dr. Kezimbira Miyingo, the environment state minister, hailed IUCN and WWF for the initiative because the impoverished communities benefit directly from the project. “Uganda is one of the pioneers. I would like to thank IUCN and WWF that this is where this approach to conservation is being pioneered and I hope that it will spread to the rest of Africa,’’ Miyingo said. Alex Muhwezi, the country representative of IUCN, said Elgon had been degraded but had been re-planted with forests to absorb carbondioxide emissions. He said IUCN began an integrated project and helped integrate the conservation of biological diversity in the district plans. Ends