Sensitive landscapes and habitats are designated to ensure the conservation and protection of rare, endangered, threatened or priority species. Ecological Trends Alliance focuses attention on specific geographic areas that contain features essential to the conservation of an endangered or threatened species and that may require special management and protection; and this may also include areas that are not currently occupied by the species but will be needed for its recovery.

The space may be defined by important feeding, resting, spawning, nesting, or rearing habitat for species that are terrestrial or wetlands or open water. Within areas occupied by the species, we consider the entire physical or biological features needed for life processes. These include: space for individual and population growth and for normal behavior; cover or shelter; food, water, air, light, minerals, or other nutritional or physiological requirements; sites for breeding and rearing offspring; and habitats that are protected from disturbances and ecological distributions of a species. We also consider unoccupied areas that are essential for the conservation of the species.

Currently, Uganda has 10 National Parks, 12 Wildlife Reserves, Over 500 Central Forest Reserves, 12 Ramsar Sites, 34 Important Bird Areas and 36 Key Biodiversity Areas. These sites have been identified through scientific inventories and have been found to be critical sites for conservation. However, human activities increasingly affect the quality and quantity of these landscapes. They are becoming increasingly vulnerable and yet valuable sites for conservation of biodiversity.

Ecological Trends Alliance develops programmes that aim at conserving the network of these important and sensitive ecosystems, ecosystem integrity so that biodiversity is protected. These are in line with related Government Programmes such as Restoration of degraded wetlands, Community Protected Areas Initiatives, Community Resource Use Programmes, REDD+ programme. Our programmes address these through:

a) Development of in-situ and ex-situ natural resources management plans

b) Mobilization of stakeholders to participate in management of sensitive receptors

c) Networking and partnering to promote Environment and Natural Resources; and

d) Advocating for better policies in Environment and Natural Resources (ENR)

Wetlands, forests, National Parks can be protected and restored if we adopt a comprehensive multi-sectoral landscape planning and management approach.