What is UEMC?

The Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Centre (UEMC) is a newly-established facility of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania. It is a monitoring and education centre with the purpose of accommodating researchers and students and supporting ecological monitoring across the Udzungwa Mountains (see Aim and objectives).

The Udzungwa Mountains is a vast mountainous range partially covered in rain forest. About 1/5 of the area is protected as Udzungwa Mountains National Park while other forests are protected as Forest Reserves. The area holds exceptional levels of biodiversity and represents the largest block of the Eastern Arc Mountains, which is well known as one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on earth.

These outstanding biodiversity values, and the increasing body of knowledge that has been established through ecological research conducted over recent decades, have reinforced the need to establish a centre that can implement and facilitate  ecological monitoring. Italy’s Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali (Trento Museum of Natural Sciences) took-up the initiative and in partnership with Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) established the UEMC. The UEMC was inaugurated on the 10^th  November 2006. It was funded by the Trento Autonomous Province through the “Watu na Msitu” project implemented by Trento Museum of Natural Sciences (70%) and by the Margot Marsh Biodiversity Fund-Conservation International (30%). TANAPA contributed the land on which the centre is built.