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Forests need wildlife
 Vo l. 11  No.1 J u ne  2011
K 
itezi landfill is Kampala city'sdump. It is where trucks takethe rubbish of over one millionpeople. It is a hot place with apowerful smell. Plastic bottles,paper and discarded food are allmixed together, so recycling andcomposting is hard, althoughpeople are trying to make it a betterplace.
Kitezi is a place that needs trees -- forshade, to absorb gases, capture run-off,for beauty, to shield the nearby houses,and for the workers and Marabou storks, which do a lot to make it the best placeit can be under the circumstances. Inlate 2010 Tree Talk took action. Wethank KCC landfill managers MudanyiMichael and Kenneth Kyazze, GTZ andthe environment clubs of five schools forbeing our partners. We planted 550 trees:
Pines
,
Nandi flames, Lusambya, Musizi,Grevillea, Mvule, Terminalia, and swamp and oil palms. 
Only 25% survived. It was not surprising.The dry season was starting. Thesoil is hard and acidic. We are nowplanting another 200 during the rainsto improve survival and will keepplanting trees until we make Kitezigreen.
Forests need wildlife
 W 
e usually think thatforests grow and thenanimals move to live inthem. But we are wrong! Infact, animals -- mammals,reptiles, birds and insects --actually create forests.
Look at this drawing.Bees and butterflies arepollinating the flowers on thetrees, thereby causing them toform fruits and seeds.Monkeys, birds, bats, rodentsand elephants are eating thefruits and tree seeds. As theseanimals move through theforest and across open places,they disperse the seed. Theother way seed is dispersedis by wind and water. This ishow forests grow and sustainthemselves. Without wildlifeto help them, forests wouldconsist of old and dying trees.
The silent forest syndrome
 Across Africa, forests arefalling silent. The animals arebeing hunted out for meat,skins, horns, feathers and ritualor medicinal use, captured forsale and dying because theirhabitat is being degraded.This
Tree Talk 
is about theanimal-forest link and howto keep it strong. Protectinganimals protects forests and vice versa. We know we needforests so we can do it!
 Seed for tree nurseries
Tree Talk isdeeply grateful tothe people andgovernment ofDenmark for theirgenerous support.We pledge tocontinuegrowingtrees tomakethe worlda betterplace.
 Your excellency, wecannot forget that in
1991-3 you created fve
national parks, therebyprotecting vital forests:Bwindi, Semuliki,Kibale, Mgahinga andMt Elgon. We alsorecall that in 2002 youendorsed
Tree Talk 
. Weurge you to remain asteadfastenvironmentalistin your fourth termand empower theinstitutions thatmanage forests.
Thank you!
Message to HE the President
 
 A nd animals need  trees &  fores ts!
Tree Talk plants at KCC landfill
RESPECT!Some of the students from Gayaza HighSchool, Kings College Budo, Makerere College,Entebbe SS and St Kizito Bugolobi during tree
planting at Kitezi landfll outside Kampala.
Tree Talk's Jonathan Kisakye res upstudents with Tree Talk's rap
"Do we go ahead or do we end here?" Of course, we goahead to fight climate change andimprove the world with trees.
 
IN THIS PICTURE, NOTICE THE SEED RAIN
- the tree seeddispersed by bats and birds. Monkeys and elephants arealso passing seed in their droppings. A rodent is buryinga seed to eat later. If he forgets the seed, it maygerminate into a wildling.
Uganda is loosing forests at a terrifying rate. Out of 506 forest reserves, only 12 are intact. Populationgrowth is exerting intense pressure. Auena Nancy,12, P5, Pijimo PS, says, "We cut trees for firewoodand constructing houses. We also burn them toget charcoal for sale. This is how we have lostour forests and we are all affected. It is a crime todestroy forests." Yes, we must obey the law and protect forests. Weneed to also grow trees. Often people want to raiseseedlings but lack seed.
Contact us at PO Box 22366 Kampala, info@treetalk.or.ug or 077-2-564941. We will send you seed.
RIGHT:A boy in Sodo Community Nursery, Pakele,Adjumani, which raised 30,000 seedlings and sold them to Tree Talk, NAADS and Farm Income EnhancementProject. Tree Talk provided training, seed and plastic
pots. Raising trees can be proftable.
 
Tree Talk, June 2011
2
says, “Honeybee populations gohand in hand with fertilizationof trees and crops. Bees inUganda have reduced becauseof deforestation and wild fires.
Besides reducing seeddispersal, hunting of animalslike wild pigs means that lionsand other predators have tostarve or eat livestock, which
brings conict with humans.
Big carnivores have vanishedfrom many forests and canonly be found in protectedgrassland parks such asMurchison Falls, QueenElizabeth and Lake Mburo
National Parks. Camera
trap surveys by Wildlife
Conservation Society found no
leopards in Rwenzori, Bwindior Kibale or Kasyoha Kitomi or
Kalinzu forests.
Over 900,000 tourists cameto Uganda in 2010, bringingin $600 million in foreign
exchange. They came to see big
animals like leopards!
Nkalate isa valuabletimber tree. Also calledMululu or
Chrysophyllum
,children loveits fruits. Sadly there are no young Nkalatetrees growingin many forests where it hadlong beenfound.
Reason? TheNkalate treeneeds elephants,civet cats,bush pigs andantelopes to spread its seed. Where these animals havedisappeared or are rare, like inMabira and Budongo forests, no young Nkalate are growing.Many other types of trees inUganda depend on animals tospread their seed. We mightimagine that a seed grows into atree just by falling on the groundunder its mother tree. But thisis wrong."A tree usually struggles toget its seed away from itself,"says
Dr Fred Babweteera of Budongo
ForestProject.
"There arediseases specific tothe tree around it. By the seed getting away, the treeenhances survival."
 Indeed, there isoften a "hostileseed environment"under the crownof the parent tree.So many treeshave a strategy to ensure thatseeds are carriedaway. "Trees with edible seedsattract animals andencourage themto act as seed carriers," says
Dr Emily Otali of HarvardUniversity's chimp project inKibaale.
"Some seeds also travel  hooked to the fur of animals."
Not knowing the importance of animals to trees, communitiesoften just see them as freemeat and hunt them to nearextinction.
Dr Babweteera's camera caughtelephants, duikers, bush pigs andcivet cats eating Nkalate fruit.Children also love the fruit.
Mammals
 are key in forest
ecology 
P
ollination is the processby which pollen istransferred from the anthersto the stigma in flowers,thereby enabling fertilization.Some plants are pollinated by  wind. Others are pollinated by insects and even small birdsand mammals.
  As humans we depend uponpollination for food. It is thepollination that causes seeds,fruit and vegetables to form.The pollinators we know bestare honeybees. They performa great service for people by pollinating many crops, includingsunflowers, oranges and lemons,mangoes, pawpaw, water melon,pumpkins, guava, jack fruit andcoffee among others.Kangave Alice, an insect expertat the Ministry of Agriculture,
Hunting hurtsforests
Bats are pollinators and super-seed dispersers
M
ost of us do not likebats. Sometimes peoplekill them because of misperceptions. But we need tothink again. Bats are amongthe most hard workinganimals, fulfilling tasksthat are vital to healthy ecosystems and humaneconomies.
Bats consume vast amountsof insects, including damaging
Forests are homes
 
for insect pollinators
farmer's hives, they rely ontrees such as tamarind andacacia to make honey. Forestsalso contain water sources forhoneybees.Honeybees are not the only useful insects. Wild pollinatorsinclude over 2600 other typesof bees, moths, beetles andbutterflies. Flies are secondin importance to bees aspollinating insects.Cocoa depends upon flies.Tomatoes depend on moths andbeetles for pollination.By conserving trees and forests, we protect the insects thatpollinate the food we eat.
Fewer animals means lesstimber, less fruit for children andreduced biodiversity. Animals needconservation.
This has led to crops having lessfruits.”Trees are essential forhoneybees. Whether they live wild in the forest or in a
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM.
A fyon a cocoa fower. Beetles on
a daisy. A moth uses its longtongue to drink nectar from a
fower. A butterfy on a plant.
Parro t s are  valuable  seed di sper ser s in  fore s t s. Un for tuna tely,the y are o f ten kep t in cage s b y un scrupulou s people. In 2011  Tree  Talk dona ted UG X500,000  to U WEC  to  feed 230 parro t s re scued  from  smuggler s.
agricultural pests. Pregnantor nursing bat mothers canconsume their body weight ininsects in one night!Fruit-eating bats pollinate anddisperse seeds that are criticalto maintaining and restoringtropical rainforests. Without bats' pollination andseed-dispersing services, suchas ecosystems could collapse. Almost 90% of the diet of straw-coloured fruit bats consistsof the fruit of Mvule, one of our most valued trees. Duringpeak fruiting season, a big batcolony can disperse millionsof Mvule seeds over an area of hundreds of miles. Bats are thesole pollinators of the famousBaobab tree. Bats are alsoanimals we need to protect.
LEFT:A straw-coloured fruitbat.RIGHT:Abat pollinates a
Baobab fower.
A bee with pollen on his leg. Honeybees are also "wildlife" thatdepend on forests and bush. Coffee harvests are 20% highernear forest fragments that house wild honeybees. In Africa,bee pollination is worth 100 times the value of the honeyharvest.
 
Tree Talk, June 2011
3
Our threatened wildlife
 A
s humans disturb forests,new diseases are enteringthe human population. In thelast century two-thirds of new communicable diseasessuffered by people originated in wildlife.These include HIV/AIDS, SARS,bird flu and Ebola and Marburg, which cause uncontrolledbleeding in humans:. "The pointis that we are destroying theforests and getting a lot morecontact with animals so we gettheir diseases," says Dr Frank Kaharuza, research director forCenters for Disease Control inEntebbe.The boy above is sufferingfrom monkeypox, a viraldisease related to smallpox. Itcauses skin lesions,blindness, and deathin 10% of cases. Itis passed from wildanimals, mostly squirrels, to people, who then pass it toeach other throughphysical contact or
I
n the 1970s, soldiersreduced wildlife numbersto a fraction of whatthey should be. Rhinos were wiped out entirely.Since then the situationhas improved but it is stillfragile.
Lions number 400, down fromthousands in the 1960s, andthey are declining. Lions inQueen Elizabeth National Park has decreased from 200 in2000 to 140 today. The park now has more cattle thanUganda kob, and cattlekeepersoften poison lions. InMurchison and Kidepo, lionsget caught in snaresfor antelopes.Uganda kobnumbers reached30,000 in 1999 buthave fallen to 8000.Uganda is home toabout 4400 chimps,
Barbara Alupo, 29,
hashandraised dozens of injuredand orphaned wild animals."Handraising means I feed,train, treat and play withthem," says UWEC's animalhealth technician since 2005. When humans are cruel toanimals, Barbara feels sad.Despite her expert care, thebaby potto below did notsurvive. Pottos are shy gentlenocturnal animals that live intrees. People had slaughteredits mother for no reason.However, the ringtail monkey (centre below) is growing well.Congolese poachers killed itsparents for food on a huntingtrip inside Uganda.Barbara knows how muchmeat a leopard needs andhow to prepare an orphanedeagle for release back into the wild. Her day starts at 8 am
Barbara,
 
UWEC animal nurse
 
Our threatened wildlife
Risks
 
of bush meat
LRA from StMary's Aboke.Despite this,she passed A levelsin biology,chemistry,geography andmaths and went on tostudy WildlifeHealth andManagementat Makerere."The animals reward me by remembering me when I meetthem," she says. You too can work for wild animals. It is anoble career. with lab work. Sometimes sherushes to UWEC's hospital atnight for emergencies, like therecent birth of two lion cubsin the rain. With other girls,Barbara was abducted by thebut numbers are declining: 600km2of forest has been lostin the last ten years in Kibaleand Hoima, an area larger thanBudongo. Since one chimprequiresabout onekm2of forest, thismay have ledto the lossof about 600chimps.Giraffes number about 300,mostly in Murchison. In Kidepo,lions are preying on the calvesof the 22 giraffe that remain!Uganda has less thanten Cheetah. They survive in Karamojain Kidepo and PianUpe. Ostriches arealso declining.In the 1960sthere were tens
POACHING AND HUNTING ARE ILLEGAL. 
If you nd a wild animal indistress, call Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) on041-4-320520 or 071-8-440126. If an animal disturbs yourcommunity, do not kill it. UWEC can stage a rescue. So far in 2011UWEC has rescued 10 pythons. You can also call UWA on041-4-355000 or 077-2-733783.
 
of thousands of elephants which decreased in the 1970sbecause of trade in ivory. Since1986, elephantshave increasedto about 4200. Also, the humanpopulation hasincreased from8 to 33 millionpeople. So today human-elephantconflict canbe severe. Right, men dig atrench in Ishasha, near QueenElizabeth National Park, tokeep elephantsaway from theirgardens. Patrick  Agaba of UgandaConservationFoundation saysbees and chilibushes can also helpkeep off these hugemammals.contaminated objects such asbed sheets.Monkeypox is not in Uganda yet but it is a big problem inCongo; it has cropped up evenin Ghana and the USA. In theCongo basin one million metrictonnes of bush meat is eatena year; hunting is a greaterthreat to its biodiversity thandeforestation.In Kashoyi-Kitome forest in western Uganda monkeys havedeclined by 5
0%
since 2001. Are they being eaten? Willmonkeypox or new diseasesemerge?Humans need protein, andUgandans eat only 5 kg of meat a year compared to the50 kg that WorldHealth Organisationrecommends. Butour need for meat farexceeds the naturalreplacement of  wildlife. Bush meathas risk of diseaseand is not a solution. 
Barbara feeds a serval kitten,brought by a concerned citizenfrom Kitgum. Its brother (below)died shortly after this photo wastaken. Wild animals are
delicate.
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