Echuya forest reserve is a montane forest that lies on a ridge, 2270 m to 2570 m above sea level in south-western Uganda within the Albertine rift, one of the important biodiversity hotspots of the world. One of the major problems to the conservation of Echuya forest is the presence of a Batwa (pygmy) community around it. The Batwa is a highly marginalized community that used to live in Echuya and some of the neighbouring forests like Bwindi and Mgahinga on which they depended for all the basics of life. The Batwa were excluded from the forest at the time Echuya and the other forests were made reserves. They own no agricultural land outside the forest. Currently, they harvest bamboo stems for fuel wood and construction, and for sale to other communities. They hunt in the forest for wild game meat and also extract fibers, water, soil and wild plants as food. The forest is also of cultural importance to the Batwa. The project is aimed at adressing some of the major obstacles to the conservation of Echuya forest reserve that include: human pressure on the forest for products and income, lack of awareness among some of the stakeholders about the need and ways by which the forest can be conserved; and inadequate forest resource management.