MUHEREZE Ronald, Uganda

Project title: Sustainable land use and resilient livelihoods in the landslide-prone region of Mount Elgon, Uganda (SureLive)

Abstract: The Mt Elgon region in Eastern Uganda is confronted with very rapid environmental degradation, including rapid deforestation in up-slope areas, severe erosion and frequent landslides in mid-slope areas, and sedimentation and recurrent flooding in down-slope areas. This project aims at understanding the complex chain of causal links that can explain these land degradation processes and their ecological and economic effects; and at identifying and promoting effective strategies for more sustainable land use and for increasing the resilience of farm-households to environmental risks and shocks. As a part of the SureLive project this research is carried out on coffee certification in the Mt. Elgon region. The aim of this research is to analyze the impacts of coffee certification on small farmers’ livelihoods and on the sustainability of their management practices. Ants were selected as an indicator species to analyze the impact of different management strategies on biodiversity within the coffee gardens.

Training location: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences