A brief history of the Early and Middle Miocene fossil sites at Bukwa, Uganda : discovery, research, protection.

The Bukwa fossil sites of Early and Middle Miocene age, were discovered in 1965, just three years after Uganda’s Independence from Colonial Rule, and since then they have been studied sporadically by geologists and palaeontologists. From 1970 until 1985 security concerns in the country hampered progress. The Bukwa sites comprise an important part of Uganda’s cultural and scientific heritage, andthey warrant proper protection. Despite being protected by the 1967 Monuments Act of Uganda, the sites have suffered encroachment, notably from agricultural activity. In the late 1990’s and the firstdecade of this century, liaison between the Uganda Museum, the Uganda Palaeontology Expedition (UPE) and Local Council officials of Bukwo District, resulted in a rise in awareness of the scientificimportance of the sites, not only among government officials and civil servants, but also among local farmers. After 2002, when a team from America briefly visited the sites, there was a long period during which nothing happened, a state of affairs which was interpreted by local inhabitants to mean that thesites had been abandoned by the scientifiv community, which gave the false impression that the sites were of little scientific value. In 2012, in order to rectify this misinformation, after three years of central and local government interaction, a panel was erected at the site by the Uganda Museum, pointing out that the site is protected by law. Local leaders and citizens of Bukwa are proud of the fact that an important scientific site exists in their area, one deposit of which represents a geological period not represented elsewhere in Uganda, and there are plans to gazette the sites and to create an Interpretation Centre for educational, scientific and tourism purposes. There remains, however, the possibility of further encroachment because, in the district, there is pressure on the land from the agricultural fraternity. The aim of this paper is to provide a succinct history of scientific activity and competing land use .