Albertine Rift Montane Forest Ecoregion

The Albertine Rift encompasses the Great Lakes of central Africa, stretching from the northern tip of Lake Albert to the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika. The Rift is located within six countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Forming part of the western Great Rift Valley, the topography of the Albertine Rift is characterized by mountains and escarpments, and their associated valleys and flanks.

The higher elevations support afromontane and sub-montane forests, grasslands, and – on the highest peaks – afroalpine moorlands.

The Albertine Rift is an area of exceptional endemism, and contains many species threatened with global extinction, particularly within the mountain forest habitats.

Over 50% of birds, 39% of mammals, 19% of amphibians, and 14% of reptiles and plants found in mainland Africa occur in the Albertine Rift.

Species of particular conservation concern include the Mountain Gorilla, Eastern Lowland Gorilla, Chimpanzee, and African Elephant. Species diversity in the Albertine Rift (compiled by WCS) is presented in the table below.

	Species richness	Endemic species	Threatened species
Mammals	402	36	35
Birds	1,061	41	25
Reptiles	175	16	2
Amphibians	118	34	16
Butterflies		117
Fish		366
Plants	5,793	567	40

^Source

Since 2001, the Albertine Rift Core Group has developed an Albertine Rift Strategic Framework. The group consists of the following agencies:

• the Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS),
  
• the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF),
  
• the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund-International (DFGF-I),
  
• the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP),
  
• the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation (ITFC),
  
• Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources (MUIENR),
  
• the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and
  
• WWF.

The Core Group has analysed the remaining large patches of habitat in the Albertine Rift, and identified the 88 most important conservation sites.

7 of these sites are high in priority for conservation intervention. These sites are the

• Virunga,
  
• Bwindi Impenetrable,
  
• Kahuzi-Biega,
  
• Kibale,
  
• Nyungwe,
  
• Semliki, and the
  
• Itombwe Massif.

Additional sites that are particularly important for endemic and threatened species include the

• Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda)
  
• Kibira (Rwanda) National Parks, and the
  
• Kasyoha-Kitomi Forest Reserve (Uganda).