Batwa of Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga national parks–a successful conservation tragedy

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OPINION

By Benjamin Abazimana

The Batwa (pygmies) were the first and original inhabitants of the tropical rainforests that cover western Uganda, the Congo Basin and the Central African jungle Great Lakes region of East Africa. These relatively short, able-bodied and intriguing people have always called this African jungle “home.”

In 1991, Bwindi and Mgahinga were gazetted to protect the endangered mountain gorillas in a conservation effort to protect these species and see them thrive once more for tourism growth. In 1992, the authorities made an eviction plan that saw the Batwa within the conservation areas of Bwindi and Mgahinga moved out. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was designated a World Heritage Site.

This jungle, home to 50% of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas, significantly needed a conservation plan to protect this gem. This would only be successfully done (whether the Batwa were a threat to gorillas is a question) if the Batwa were evicted from the forests, and so it was done. And out they went.

A living heritage, once a growing population of Africa’s endemic culture, became refugees on the outskirts of their once home, unfamiliar spaces and without a well-planned and effectively implemented eviction and resettlement plan. Their ancient and unique means of livelihoods could not enable them to survive in this new modern territory. They were not farmers, traders, pastoralists, or even educated enough to acquire professional qualifications for employment.

They relied on forests for their livelihoods. They depended on the forest for food, medicine, shelter, and clothing and studied the forest. It was hard to separate the body of the “Mutwa” from the forest. They needed no permanent shelters, nor did they have any problem with the gorillas. They co-existed with these animals for centuries. And so, a historical bond was forever broken.

To say the Batwa are heading for extinction is no understatement. Their new life outside saw many of them die of malnutrition, AIDS; others migrated, and others struggled to manage life here. They were not involved in any systematic and progressive decision-making that involved improving their livelihoods. There was little educational effort, though some of them acquired basic education through philanthropic efforts from Compassion International, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), BMCT (Bwindi-Mgahinga Conservation Trust) and AICM (African International Christian Ministry).

However, due to societal stigma and their inability to adapt to new life changes, many could not stay in school. They resorted to begging, prostitution, offering cheap labour for food, stealing and crime that saw many suffer the fate of mob justice and even arrest and imprisonment.

In fact, the mindset of the society around them is that the Batwa are not like other people. They are simply seen as primitive, harmful and useless people, often regarded as a threat to society’s values and ethics. In fact, in the surrounding communities, there is a common reference used of a “Mutwa” intended to address someone who is “unruly, dirty or uses foul language.”

The question of whether the Batwa were a threat to gorillas is still a puzzle. So there lies a living heritage under threat of extinction, with their knowledge of the jungle, their storytelling, the trails and caves, traditional herbal medicine and art. The Batwa trail, one of the tourism products and activities in these parks, opens you up to a very exhilarating and unmatched sight of the Batwa existence and a potential, yet often overlooked, tourism heritage. Actually, the Batwa are quite often regarded as keepers of the forest. These would have been the guides for visitors to these jungles. There is a section of these Batwa that actually goes to the forests to look for herbal medicine.

The growing population of settlers has encroached on these conservation areas for settlement and agriculture, as well as for poaching and killing animals that stray out of the parks. There has been some conservation effort made to ensure they take part in the tourism value chain of the national parks. These include the Batwa craft shops and museums, community-based tourism initiatives where visitors get to meet, interact and learn about their culture, as well as the Batwa trail that takes visitors through the jungle to the old caves and homesteads in the jungles where the Batwa once settled.

The benefit-sharing scheme has also registered some progress in the provision of basic social services and benefits to these populations around the parks. The distribution, however, remains unchecked, with marginalisation of most beneficiaries, especially the minority Batwa. There has also been formal education for the communities that have Batwa homesteads. Those who settled in towns have had hardly any benefits to find them. They are survivors.

However, this is not enough. There is less involvement in decision-making; they are squatters and are exploited for cheap labour, and are less educated. A few NGOs have also come in to lend a hand in helping these people. How can sustainable tourism actually be socially sustainable? Perhaps rethinking social tourism policies and strategies is the way to go. Otherwise, it will be no surprise if very soon the Batwa will be studied and heard of as “a people that were” not “the people that are.”

The writer is a Teaching Assistant, Department of Tourism Management, Makerere University Business School