About

Established in 1991 the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (ITFC) is a conservation-oriented research institute of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). It is located on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP or ‘Bwindi’ for short), a World Heritage site in South West Uganda. This area has numerous endemic species and half the world’s mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla berengei) which have attracted a valuable tourist trade. The wider region is poor and densely populated (about 500 people/km²) with people mainly dependent on subsistence agriculture. Forest cover stops abruptly at the park boundary - most forest outside has been lost.

ITFC has a track record of providing management support and guidance, as well as of capacity building, in Uganda. ITFC has carried out, often with partners, a range of biological and socioeconomic research and monitoring, aimed at addressing the key conservation challenges in the region.

ITFC works closely with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the National Forest Authority (NFA) and other conservation partners working in the region* to ensure that results and recommendations are translated into management decisions and actions.

ITFC also has an important role in providing research opportunities and field support and supervision to Ugandan students and researchers, and can serve as a base for visiting researchers from Uganda and around the world to pursue their own research interests in this area (see research opportunities). Already many of the region’s protected area managers, researchers and educators have studied at ITFC.