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to provide sustainable livelihoods as an alternative
to agricultural encroachment into the park. The
Trust is recognized internationally as an example of
innovative conservation finance (World Bank, 2002).
Conservation and Management of the Eastern
Arc Mountain Forests of Tanzania Project aimed
to build consensus among multiple stakeholders
around how best to conserve mountain biodiversity;
support the implementation of community-based
conservation initiatives in priority pilot areas in
the Uluguru Mountains; and develop lessons that
could be extended to other areas (UNDP, 2010). It
also supported a process of institutional reform
to strengthen institutional capacity to undertake
participatory forest biodiversity conservation. The
UNDP implemented Community Management of
Protected Areas for Conservation Project aimed
to promoting community-based biodiversity
conservation in the Kilimanjaro region (OECD,
2003). Other similar projects include the World
Bank-funded Forest Conservation and Management
Project, which focused on the development of the
forestry sector, and on biodiversity conservation in
Tanzania’s forests. The latter component, which is
supported by the GEF and jointly implemented with
UNDP, focused on the Eastern Arc forests, which are
recognized as biodiversity hotspots, and are a crucial
water catchment area for Tanzania’s water supply and
hydroelectric power generation.
Climate change adaptation
A few projects relating to climate change adaptation
have been implemented in the mountain regions
of East Africa. There have been some notable
achievements, but also a number of challenges.
One of the most recent projects was the Ecosystem
Based Adaptation (EBA) programme, which covered
eight mountainous districts in Uganda. The project
was jointly implemented by the Government of
Uganda, UNEP, UNDP and IUCN. The project was
implemented by local and central government teams
in close collaboration with local communities. The
overall objective of the project was to strengthen
Uganda’s capacity for promoting ecosystem-based
adaptation options and to reduce the vulnerability
of communities to climate change impacts with
particular emphasis on the Mount Elgon ecosystem.
Another project of relevance to the East Africa region
is the Strengthening Sustainable Environment and
Natural Resource Management, Climate Adaptation
and Mitigation project in Uganda. The project was
implemented by WWF and focuses on the Rwenzori
Mountains. In Burundi, the Enhancing Climate
Risk Management and Adaptation project was
implemented between 2010 and 2014. The project
aimed at integrating relevant information on climate
change into national and subnational decision-
making processes by raising awareness, developing
preparedness and adaptationmeasures, and enhancing
the capacity of the population to adapt to climate
change and reduce vulnerability (GEF, 2010).
Generally, reasonable achievements have been made
in terms of creating awareness of climate change
and building local institutional capacity for climate
change adaptation in the mountainous areas. These
projects are, however, scattered and rather short-
lived and, therefore, unlikely to demonstrate any
significant long-term impact.
Simien mountains, Ethiopia