Sign by ministry of Tourism at Kingwal.

This project plans to enhance sustainable conservation of King’wal swamp as a habitat the endangered sitatunga antelope. It will focus on documenting indigenous conservation information with an aim of initiating a community based management planning for King’wal swamp. This will be ensured through organizing interactive workshops with the community representatives and also aid in development of an environmental education manual to be used for awareness and later on aid in management plan development process for the swamp.

Community member leading a traditional song

The project will also help in setting up a community leadership and working group to spearhead community involvement in King’wal swamp conservation. This will be ensured through identifying and training 15 members of the community to lead this process.

We seek to promote partnerships between various conservation stakeholders in the project area for King’wal conservation. The targeted stakeholders are drawn from the government, local conservation NGOs, community groups, local administration, schools and the private sector. Meetings between these partners will educate the participants on ecological and economical importance of King’wal and why it should be conserved. The meetings will also specify the roles of each partner in supporting conservation initiatives for the swamp.

A cultural exhibition will be held during the project period for the community to showcase their cultural products for marketing purposes and to promote cultural tourism in the area. This is intended to draw the community’s attention to other sustainable alternative livelihoods and enable them explore their rich culture for wealth creation. There are a few organizations in the region that have come up with different interventions for the conservation of the wetland. We plan to partner with them to draw important lessons during the implementation of this project phase.