Uganda Turns to Tourism and Community Partnerships to Protect Kasubi Tombs and the Rwenzoris

Uganda has launched two UNESCO-supported initiatives aimed at strengthening the long-term protection of the Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi and Rwenzori Mountains National Park, linking conservation more directly with sustainable tourism, community participation and local livelihoods.

The projects, announced by UNESCO on 8 September, bring together the Ugandan government, UNESCO, the governments of Japan and Norway, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the Buganda Kingdom, tourism and conservation institutions, communities and development partners.

Kasubi moves from restoration to resilience

The Kasubi Tombs project represents a new stage for a site that suffered a devastating fire in 2010 and was removed from UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger in 2023 following extensive restoration work.

Funded by the Government of Japan, the new initiative will focus on long-term resilience, disaster preparedness, management, visitor experience, interpretation, community participation and heritage-linked livelihoods. The Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi are Uganda’s only cultural property on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Rwenzori links conservation with community tourism

At Rwenzori Mountains National Park, a two-year project funded by Norway will develop an interpretation framework and visitor-management strategy, document oral histories and community knowledge, undertake cultural mapping and strengthen community participation in tourism.

UNESCO says the programme will build the capacity of communities, including young people and women, to participate in interpretation and community-based tourism. That approach is significant because the Rwenzori landscape is simultaneously a natural heritage site, a source of local livelihoods and an ecosystem increasingly exposed to climate change and the retreat of its glaciers.

From protecting sites to sharing their economic value

The two initiatives point to a broader shift in heritage policy. Conservation is increasingly being asked to do more than protect monuments and landscapes. Policymakers are also trying to connect heritage with jobs, tourism, education and community ownership.

That creates an important balance. Tourism can generate income and strengthen public interest in heritage, but visitor growth also has to be managed without undermining the cultural meaning or ecological integrity of the sites themselves.

At Kasubi, the Buganda Kingdom has emphasised that restoration should be the foundation for sustained management rather than the end of the conservation process. At Rwenzori, UNESCO says community stories, cultural practices and sacred relationships with the landscape will inform how the site is interpreted instead of relying solely on externally defined narratives.

Lessons beyond Uganda

The Kasubi initiative is also expected to facilitate exchanges with Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mali and Benin on post-disaster recovery, disaster-risk reduction and resilient management of World Heritage properties.

For African countries trying to protect heritage while expanding tourism and local economic opportunities, Uganda’s experience will be worth watching. The programmes are newly launched, so their promised benefits should not yet be treated as outcomes. Their significance lies in the model being tested: conservation designed with communities as participants and potential beneficiaries rather than as spectators to heritage management.