Mt. Elgon regional ecosystem conservation programme (MERECP) appraisal report

The paper finds that the major challenge is to effectively harmonise the programme into a truly regional effort. The implementation phase will therefore be split into a small regional component and two national components. It will also be a challenge to develop a regional integrated ecosystem management plan for Mt. Elgon.

Recommendations:

• focus should be set on the knowledge gaps and the needs for more research activities in the MERECP, both in terms of collating what has already been done, and in terms of biodiversity monitoring, ecosystem functioning, and the various interactions between the forest ecosystem and the socio-economic and socio-cultural issues
• the complicated institutional set-up of the programme, as well as the significant differences between the two countries, are considered to be major risk factors for the success of the MERECP. The collaborative management component will be a particular challenge, as Kenya so far has no official provision for such schemes
• some appropriate indicators for assessing the success of the programme are given in the proposal, but a more complete set of such indicators remains to be developed
• to foster a better sense of local responsibility and ownership to the programme, it is recommended that IUCN’s prominent role is gradually phased out, and given over to local bodies over the 4-5 years’ programme period. It is also recommended that the programme activities as far as possible are integrated into mainstream activities like district plans and DEAPs
• the issue of corruption is identified as a major concern to the MERECP, and various ways to curb the problem are discussed. For example, funds will basically not pass through central government agencies under the programme, but through IUCN
• the long term sustainability of MERECP will be dependent on the ability to integrate programme activities into mainstream, national and regional activities, and the ability to find ways of future funding of successful activities. Increased revenue from tourism and from well managed forest plantations are particularly promising alternatives in this regard. It is important that local authorities are given better incentives than today, so that a major share of revenue accumulated locally also is retained locally
• human rights aspects, including resettlement issues; socio-cultural and gender aspects, and the HIV/AIDS problem are discussed in the programme context
• it is probable that some of the projects being developed under the Nile Basin Initiative in the Mt. Elgon area will directly overlap with the MERECP. It is recommended that these efforts are co-ordinated through a continuous liaison system to avoid duplication of efforts. Also for other relevant donor-supported activities in the area it is important to develop effective collaborative routines