Beautiful Beasts, Beautiful Lands: The fall and rise of an African national park

Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda was created in 1983, but thousands lost their land and livelihoods. Mark Infield and colleagues implemented a 10-year recovery programme using community conservation approaches, saving the park and attracting thousands of visitors. However, the natural world continues to wane, and local support is critical for national parks to survive. Beautiful Beasts, Beautiful Lands provides a commentary on nature conservation, explaining why protected areas are stronger when based on local values than financial worth.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 17 June 2024
Publisher: Whittles Publishing

Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda, established in 1983, faced significant challenges when thousands of people lost their land and livelihoods due to the park's creation. Three years later, the park was reclaimed and faced destruction, leading to its reduced size and scattered settlement. When Mark Infield arrived in Uganda as a young conservationist, he faced the challenge of saving the park. A 10-year recovery program was proposed and implemented by Infield and his colleagues in Uganda National Parks, using community conservation approaches. Today, the park is saved and visited by thousands, thanks to this program. "Beautiful Beasts, Beautiful Lands" is a personal account of Infield's 30 years of work in nature conservation, focusing on the rise and fall and rise again of Lake Mburo National Park. Despite the park's success, the natural world continues to wane, and local support is critical for national parks to survive. This book demonstrates the importance of building links to communities over many years to ensure the long-term success of conservation efforts. After five years of explaining the importance of the national park to the Bahima pastoralists, who named it "Karo Karungi" (Beautiful Land), the author finally asked for their views. Their answers changed his thinking about the park, working with communities, and protecting nature. "Beautiful Beasts, Beautiful Lands" provides a commentary on nature conservation, highlighting its failures and explaining why protected areas are stronger when based on local values rather than financial worth. It offers a way of thinking that reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of conservation and encourages a more holistic approach to protecting our planet's natural resources.

Dimension: 240 x 170 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781849955621