Budongo Forest Reserve (7059)
Uganda, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1b, A1c, B1
Year of last assessment: 2024
National site name: Budongo Forest Reserve
Central coordinates: Latitude: 1.8200, Longitude: 31.5900
System: terrestrial
Elevation (m): 700 to 1270
Area of KBA (km2): 816.81928
Protected area coverage (%): 97.27
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Budongo Forest Reserve, one of the most important in Uganda, lies on the escarpment north-east of Lake Albert. It consists of a medium-altitude moist semi-deciduous forest (covering c.42,800 ha), with areas of savanna and woodland. The reserve occupies gently undulating terrain, with a general slope north-north-west towards the Rift Valley. The forest is drained by four small rivers (Sonso, Waisoke, Wake and Bubwa) which flow into Lake Albert.Budongo has five main forest-types: colonizing, mixed, Cynometra, Cynometra-mixed and swamp-forest. The majority of the reserve is covered by tropical high-forest communities. Medium-altitude semi-deciduous Cynometra-Celtis forest covers about half of the site and Combretum savanna is widespread in drier areas. The forest is partially degraded, mainly because of pit-sawing and saw-milling over many years. The vegetation has also changed considerably following more than 100 years of selective logging and silvicultural treatment which favoured the growth of valuable timber species, especially mahoganies. Today, the forest is the richest for timber production in the country.The Forest Master Plan prescribes conservation of forest biodiversity and ecological conditions, economic production of hardwood timber on a sustainable basis, integration of the communities living near the Forest Reserve in collaborative management, development and provision of recreational facilities, and the pursuit of research on various aspects of forest ecosystem dynamics. The Budongo Forest Project is based at Sonso and carries out research throughout the forest, mainly on primates and birds. There are ecotourism sites at Busingiro and Kaniyo Pabidi.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: Three species trigger KBA status in this Forest Reserve: chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, Nahan's partridge, Ptilopachus nahani, and a tree species; Gomphia mildbraedii. Desplatzia mildbraedii could qualify if sufficient reproductive units are found. This is one of only three sites in Uganda where Nahan's partridge occurs and it is thought not to occur widely in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Gomphia mildbraedii is only known from two sites, one in DRC and Budongo Forest, and Desplatsia mildbraedii is known from here and only 4 other sites.
Additional biodiversity: The forest is rich in species and includes the only population of Puvel's illadopsis in eastern Africa (other populations are in cameroon and west of there).
Manageability of the site: The site has been managed by the National Forest Authority as a Central Forest Reserve since the 1930s.
Supersedes another site: Boundary submitted is the officially recognised boundary for the site by the Government of Uganda and differs slightly from the existing shapefile
Other site values: No
Delineation rationale: The boundary of the site follows the legally gazetted boundary of the Central Forest Reserve as recognised by the government of Uganda
Habitats
Land use: It was one of the main timber forests for Uganda providing mahogany timber for the country. Some logging still occurs, controlled and illegal pitsawing. Parts of the reserve are designated as Nature Reserves under the National Forest Authority.
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 9 | |
| Savanna | 2 | |
| Forest | 74 | |
| Unknown | 13 |
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biological resource use | Logging & wood harvesting | Unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest] | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | Ongoing | |
| Agriculture & aquaculture | Livestock farming & ranching | Nomadic grazing | Ongoing |
| Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases | Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases | Unspecified species | Ongoing |
| Natural system modifications | Fire & fire suppression | Increase in fire frequency/intensity | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Gathering terrestrial plants | Unintentional effects (species being assessed is not the target) | Ongoing |
| Biological resource use | Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | Intentional use (species being assessed is the target) | Ongoing |
| Residential & commercial development | Tourism & recreation areas | Ongoing |