Echuya Batwa, commonly known as

pygmies In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

, are an endangered group of people around Echuya Forest Reserve in

Kisoro Kisoro is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the chief town of Kisoro District and the site of the district headquarters. Location Kisoro is approximately , by road, west of Kabale, the largest city in the Kigezi sub-region. This i ...

and

Kabale Kabale is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the chief town of Kabale District, and the district headquarters are located there. Sometimes nicknamed “Kastone” as in the local language Rukiga, a “kabale” is a small stone. Loca ...

Districts of South-Western

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

. The Echuya is located in the

Albertine Rift The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Ta ...

region recognized as an important eco-region. The Batwa are believed to have migrated from the

Ituri Forest The Ituri Rainforest is a rainforest located in the Ituri Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The forest's name derives from the nearby Ituri River which flows through the rainforest, connecting firstly to the Aruwimi R ...

of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

in search of wild animals to hunt, hence the name Kisoro, literally meaning "the area occupied by wild animals". The Batwa live in small huts mainly made from sticks and grass, and number 6,700 per a 2014 estimate by the

Uganda Bureau of Statistics The Uganda Bureau of Statistics ("UBOS") is an agency of the Ugandan government. Formed by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics Act, 1998, the agency is mandated to "coordinate, monitor and supervise Uganda's National Statistical System". Locatio ...

Overview

"Originally, Batwa were forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers based in the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canada, Canadian–United States, American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York (state), New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania ...

of Central Africa, and are widely accepted as the original inhabitants of the region. As their traditional forest lands and territories fell under the control of agro-industries and conservation agencies, the Batwa became squatters living on the edges of society. The establishment of the Bwindi and Mgahinga National Parks for

Mountain Gorillas The mountain gorilla (''Gorilla beringei beringei'') is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018. There are two populations: One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Centr ...

in 1991 enabled the authorities to evict the Batwa definitely from the forest. The Batwa in Uganda (today) experience systematic and pervasive discrimination from the government and other sectors of society, and their rights as indigenous peoples are neither recognized nor respected".

Geography

The Batwa people live in the southwestern portion of

, namely, in the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Bundibugyo Bundibugyo is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the 'chief town' of Bundibugyo District and the district headquarters are located there. Location Bundibugyo is located approximately , by road, west of Fort Portal, the nearest ...

Kanungu Kanungu is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It is the location of the district headquarters for Kanungu District. Location Kanungu is located approximately , on a winding dirt road, southwest of the town of Rukungiri, the nearest large ...

, and Rubanda.

Echuya Forest Reserve

Echuya was gazetted in 1939 as a

forest reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

. Echuya Forest Reserve is located in the most densely populated area where, the average land holding per household is 0.8 ha and population density is 353.9 persons per km². According to the National Population and Housing Census (2002), Batwa population in Uganda was 3500. Other than Batwa, the forest is surrounded by

Bakiga Kiga people, or ''Abakiga'' ("people of the mountains"), are a Bantu ethnic group native to south western Uganda and northern Rwanda. History Pre-colonial period The Kiga people are believed to have originated in Rwanda as mentioned in one ...

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the pr ...

and

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic gr ...

who comprise a bigger percentage of the population. Bakiga are commonly referred to by Batwa as Bairu. Batwa comprise about 5% of the population (Plumptre et al. 2004). Their households are scattered in various settlements in villages located adjacent to the forest. They include: Murubindi, Kashasha; Gitebe-Kanaba, Biizi-Rugeshi–Murora, Mukasaayi that comprises two settlements, Karengyere-Rwamahano and Kinyarushengye.

Demographics

As of 2014, the

estimates that there are approximately 6,700 Batwa people in

, comprising 0.2% of the country's population. This estimation is higher than that found in the 2002 National Population and Housing Census, which estimated their population to be 3,500.

Health

In October 2021, the

PBS Newshour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of i ...

reported that the Batwa population in Uganda has a

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

of just 28 years, and that about 40% of children do not survive to the age of five. One Ugandan doctor said that the discrimination many Batwa face in Ugandan society has made it harder for the Batwa to access healthcare. Health issues facing the Batwa include

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

respiratory tract infection Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are infectious diseases involving the respiratory tract. An infection of this type usually is further classified as an upper respiratory tract infection (URI or URTI) or a lower respiratory tract infection (LR ...

s, and

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

Alcohol addiction Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predominan ...

also afflicts many Batwa, particularly men.

Economic livelihood

In a report on the Batwa people in October 2021, a reporter for the PBS Newshour called the Batwa "among the poorest inhabitants of one of the world's poorest countries". Major sources of income for the Batwa include the tourism sector and agricultural work. A significant amount of young Batwa women perform

sex work Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...

in order to survive and earn income. Many Batwa have little or no formal education, and approximately 10% of Batwa children are enrolled in school as of 2021.

Land issues

Following the expulsion of many Batwa from protected forests in

in 1991, and the

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then land conversion, converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban area, urban ...

of much of the land they live on, the way of life for many Batwa has changed significantly. Oftentimes, this expulsion was done without community consultation, consent, and compensation. Violence was employed to force the Batwa to relocate, which frequently entailed the destruction of their homes and property, and the killing of their livestock. Early attempts at "multiple-use zones" were employed to enable the Batwa to live in protected areas, but these resulted in no material changes, and were quickly abandoned due to what the African International Christian Ministry (AICM), a Ugandan

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

, called "flawed implementation and institutional discrimination". As a result, the Batwa people have little means of economic opportunity, and face a high rate of

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse < ...

. Since the expulsion of the Batwa in 1991, the Ugandan government has introduced legal documents which include stated aims to help the country's disenfranchised, such as the Batwa. Affirmative action was enshrined in the Fourth Constitution of Uganda, and the 2013 National Land Policy highlighted the need to "redress historical injustices to protect the land rights of groups and communities marginalized by history or on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity and other forms of vulnerability to achieve balanced growth and social equity". Furthermore, The Land Act of 1998 stated that the government will "recognize and protect the right to ancestral lands of ethnic minority groups", and "pay prompt, adequate and fair compensation to ethnic minority groups that are displaced from their ancestral land by government action". This last law has enabled the Batwa to engage in limited access and usage of their ancestral lands. Despite this stated intent on the part of the Ugandan government, the Batwa suffer from what the AICM calls "severe landlessness". The

Uganda Wildlife Authority The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is a semi-autonomous Ugandan government agency that aims to conserve, manage and regulate Uganda’s wildlife. "UWA is mandated to ensure sustainable management of wildlife resources and supervise wildlife a ...

launched a short-lived initiative to employ local Batwa to serve as tour guides to the Garama Cave, a tourist attraction on Batwa ancestral land, but scrapped it February 2013 when a group of Batwa people sent a petition to the Constitutional Court of Uganda to gain redress for their exile. The

Adventist Development and Relief Agency The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA or ADRA International) is a humanitarian agency operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the purpose of providing individual and community development and disaster relief. I ...

, a group affiliated with the

Seventh Day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

, currently rents out portions of

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

nearby for the purpose of training local Batwa in agriculture. Few Batwa own agricultural land, although the land is often less than per household, is often agricultural unproductive, and is located in hard-to-reach hilly terrain near the forest. The land was obtained from development agencies such as the

, BMCT (Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Trust) and AICM (African International Christian Ministry). However, before the declaration of the Echuya as a central government forest reserve, the forest was heavily encroached upon. Up to now, some activities such as wild hunting, collection of honey, mushrooms, water, bamboo for basket making, building poles, making of bee hives and fire wood are being carried out by both Batwa and non-Batwa dominant ethnic communities. Many Batwa illegally hunt in the forest due to lack of alternative sources of proteins. The forest is also of cultural importance to the Batwa, who offer religious sacrifices to their gods.

Batwa's access to Echuya Forest Resources

The Forestry Nature Conservation Master Plan (FNCMP) of Uganda (1999) underpins Echuya Forest Reserve as one of the forests that have been selected for CFM (Collaborative Forest Management) involving participation of local communities including Batwa in resource protection, management and planning of nature reserves. The 1999 FNCMP further focuses on equitable utilization of forest resources amongst the communities adjacent to the forest. This led to formation of CFM groups at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and sub-county levels, which are mostly dominated by non-Batwa who for long have marginalized the Batwa. Batwa interests were therefore not fully met when the communities were being assisted to negotiate, draft and finally sign CFM agreements with the National Forestry Authority.

References

*The Republic of Uganda. (1999). Uganda Forestry Nature Conservation Master Plan (UFNCMP) * *The Uganda Population and Housing Census. 2005. Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Entebbe, Uganda {{authority control African Pygmies Ethnic groups in Uganda Forestry in Uganda