Conservation of natural resources has become a social rather than a biological challenge due to population increase, disparity of wealth and unauthorised resource harvesting. Conservation and development interests have appeared incompatible if not in direct conflict. Involving local people in the management of natural resources within protected areas, as well as the realization of sustainable benefits for local people, may partly address the problem. Tourism for example has been presented as a mechanism to justify conservation without harming the resource base. Well managed tourism may maintain the forests’ environmental services. The Bwindi Impenetrable forest is one of the few remaining high elevation forests in Uganda and has been gazetted as a national park due to the presence of unique wildlife such as Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei).

A study about people’s attitudes towards the newly gazetted park was requested by the management authority. The study aimed at; 1) determining attitudes of local people around the national park towards conservation, development and tourism, 2) identifying potential ways in which tourism generated revenue can be channelled to benefit local communities and 3) exploring how socio-demographic characteristics and resource use affect conservation attitudes. A questionnaire survey was administered between November 18 and December 24, 1992 among communities within a 10 kilometre radius of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP). 3 parishes were selected for the study, based on different land-use pattern, forest cover, road accessibility and population density. Each of these parishes was divided into two sub-units, based on enumeration areas of the 1990 population census; one bordering the park and another one further away from it. Within the sub-units, households were picked randomly from the enumeration list. In total, 76 households were interviewed.

Results indicated that the number of respondents who valued conservation increased with higher education, non-farmer occupations and increased distance from the forest. Most households surrounding BINP were not sharing many of the ‘typical western’ conservation attitudes that value preservation of forests and wildlife for reasons other than self benefit (e.g. scientific, aesthetic or moral). Generally, respondents with positive attitudes towards the park recognised utilitarian benefits from the protected area including tourism revenue, employment and water catchment.

The author recommends regular monitoring of local people’s attitudes and implementation of plans to distribute revenue from tourism to local communities in the form of benefits. Allowing sustainable harvesting of non timber forest resources is also expected to have a positive influence on attitudes towards the protected area.