ACBF

ACBF

The Association for Conservation of Bugoma Forest (ACBF) is an environmental membership association, not for profit, registered in 2016 in Uganda as a Community Based Organization in Kikuube District and as a no profit company Limited by guarantee.

The idea to start a conservation project came in 2013, after Costantino Tessarin, director of Destination Jungle LTD – tour operator in Kampala – traveled for the first time to Bugoma Forest, a protected reserve in then Hoima District, located on the edge of the Albertine Rift graben of Lake Albert. Bugoma looked like an unknown tropical forest, not present in the tourist maps, but very rich in biodiversity and one of the few remaining chimpanzees sanctuaries in Uganda. Unfortunately it was discovered that the reserve was affected by a number of challenges, especially the rampant illegal logging of timber and the absence of any eco-tourism development.

To respond to the need to do something for the conservation of Bugoma, in 2014 the Bugoma Forest Conservation Campaign was launched by a number of individuals and organizations, headed by Costantino Tessarin and Destination Jungle LTD as an advocacy initiative to bring awareness over the conservation of Bugoma Forest. This attracted media visibility and concluded with the first edition of Run for Nature in September 2014.

In April 2016 the decision was made to consolidate the efforts of the first campaign into a permanent Association, aiming at working on a broader conservation project. The first activity started by the Association was in July 2016 the nursery bed and tree planting project. In March 2017 was officially launched the “Chimp T-RAP Patrol”, a patrolling project to work against illegal logging and other illegalities affecting the reserve. In 2018 eco-tourism activities started and Bugoma Jungle Lodge opened, being the first tourist accommodation in the area.

The Association has a management Board and members in Uganda and abroad.