Influence of conducted research on the management of protected area: :Towards improving conservation and monitoring on Nyungwe national park from 2005 to 2015

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) conservation requires prominent approaches for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services. Beside these services, PAs act as key source of development, poverty alleviation and employment, especially through tourism and in turn contributing to green economy. For sustaining these goods and services, there is need to continuously improve management practices using research. Therefore, this study conducted in Nyungwe National Park intended to assess the influence of conducted research on Nyungwe National Park in relation to conservation and monitoring. The main objective of the study was to assess the influence of conducted research on Nyungwe National Park towards improving its conservation and monitoring. Qualitative data was collected from local community from three sectors, park staff and researchers who conducted research on NNP, and field visits were done to acquire data for this study. The findings from the research indicated that previous research informed policymakers who took some managerial decisions such as making trails, construction of Nyungwe canopy walk way, rehabilitation of buffer zones, training guides and guards, increasing community awareness, upgrading Nyungwe to a National Park level, tourism revenue sharing, and compensation of damaged crops for local community, establishment of Kitabi College of Conservation and Environment Management (KCCEM) among others. These changes occurred as a result of new policies, laws and regulations developed and implemented. We recommend that PAs managers consider all relevant recommendations from conducted research and establish a platform for sharing researchers’ results for effective conservation.