ITFC together with Dr. Jonathan Salerno and Prof. Joel Hartter from the University of Colorado Boulder, USA wrote and submitted a proposal for a project on; Forest fragments, biodiversity conservation, and the persistence of community resource management institutions in the African Albertine Rift to the National Geographic Society in September 2016.
The proposal was successful and was awarded a grant of $22,590 by the National Geographic Society in February 2017. Planning meetings for the project commenced in February 2017 for fieldwork that began in June/July 2018 (dry season).
The project aims at investigating the social and biophysical factors that have left several forest pockets and pastures intact in the Bwindi-Mgahinga region despite the high population density and pressure for agricultural land by the local communities that exist in the landscape.