| dc.description.abstract | The study was about improving community livelihoods through
participatory management of National Game Parks: Factors
affecting access to socio-ecological benefits of Mgahinga
National Game Park in Kisoro district. The specific objectives
included: to identify the activities the local community
engages in the national game parks management, to identify the
barriers communities face in accessing the socio-ecological
resources in National Game Parks and to identify the benefits
of local community participation in the national park’s social
ecological resource management. The study was mainly
qualitative, but the researcher also used quantitative
methods. Data was collected through interviews, questionnaires
and observation. A sample size of forty respondents was
conducted whereby the researcher interviewed 10 key informants
these are: five local leaders, five game park managers, and
also interviewed thirty participants in the villages of
Kabande, Nzogera, Mubuga, Ndego and Mataba. The findings
revealed that most people who live around Mgahinga National
Park benefit a lot in that they are able to access social
ecological resources like bamboo, firewood, water, honey among
others however on the other hand there is a problem of
corruption, restriction of accessing the resources, lack of
cooperation among local people and game rangers.It concluded
that community conservation at Mgahinga is therefore far from
self-sustaining. It has achieved a remarkable job of finessing
the controversial park boundaries, and buying time for the
development of institutional mechanisms that can meet
legitimate local economic needs and conservation goals. | en_US |
