Masindi – Just a short distance from Aliyo Sarile’s tobacco farm lies the vast expanse of Budongo Forest in Uganda, rising as a vibrant wall of greenery, a clear delineation between cultivated land and wilderness.

Every morning, Aliyo greets the day with nature’s symphony: the harmonious chirps of birds, the calls of chimpanzees overhead, and the distinct barks of baboons—a soundtrack that neither disrupts nor entertains him in his daily life.

Yet, the balance of this forest ecosystem has been disturbed.

Chimpanzees and baboons now frequently emerge from their green haven to pillage Aliyo’s crops, indulging in his fruits and occasionally trampling his tender tobacco plants with their curious hands and feet.

In response to these wild intrusions, Aliyo wields a firm stick and shouts to defend his territory.

“I avoid contact with them or anything they’ve touched because these animals can carry diseases,” he clarifies.

These unwelcome encroachments aren’t coincidental.

Over ten years ago, spurred by the surging global demand for tobacco, local farmers decimated Budongo Forest’s Raphia farinifera palm trees to produce strings for curing, unwittingly eradicating a crucial source of minerals essential for the primates’ diets.

This ecological disruption compelled the primates to resort to eating bat feces, which, as a 2024 study published in Nature reveals, is rife with concerning viruses—including those associated with SARS, a member of the coronavirus family responsible for COVID-19.

This seemingly innocuous shift in diet has created what experts now identify as a potential pathway for harmful bat-borne viruses to transfer from wildlife to humans, poised to trigger a catastrophic spillover event shortly after COVID-19 reshaped global life.

Experts warn that increased human-primate interactions, driven by deforestation and overlapping resources, foster ideal conditions for viral spillovers.

A myriad of viruses silently circulates within the animal kingdom, occasionally breaching species barriers to infect humans and cause disease.

Historically, severe outbreaks like the plague, Spanish flu, and COVID-19 emerged in animals before spilling over into humans, a phenomenon termed zoonotic spillover.

Ecologists assert that the disappearance of these mineral-rich trees, once vital for primate survival, has destabilized the ecosystem, potentially elevating the risk of diseases spilling over to humans.

Uganda stands at a pivotal crossroads of viral vulnerability, regularly confronting outbreaks of Marburg, Mpox, and Ebola.

Most recently, the nation has battled an Ebola outbreak that began in January.

Currently, although no apparent threat exists among the animals or human communities adjacent to Budongo Forest, vigilance remains essential, according to Dr. Deogratias Sekimpi, a public health expert and advisor at Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health, a local NGO.

“The primary challenge lies in early detection,” notes Henry Kyobe Bbosa, incident commander at the Ministry of Health, who has assisted in managing Uganda’s responses to COVID-19, Mpox, and the Ebola Sudan outbreak.

“Once an outbreak is confirmed, the responsive mechanisms activate swiftly.”

Within this forest, human and wildlife populations constantly vie for the same resources, paving the way for pathogens to cross species lines.

“People collect water from the ponds in the forest, the same source from which animals drink,” remarks Simon Peter Ogola, a forest ecologist and research training coordinator at Budongo Conservation Field Station.

The triggers for emerging diseases—deforestation, hunting, urbanization, climate change, and industrial agriculture—are well-recognized by scientists, yet the exact mechanisms that enable pathogens to leap between species remain ambiguous.

In Budongo, the Nature study highlights a clear progression: the demand for tobacco cultivation spurred deforestation, which subsequently forced dietary shifts in primates.

Although there has been a decline in tobacco farming following the 2015 Tobacco Control Act, a recent resurgence has seen production rise from 32,965 metric tons in 2022 to an anticipated 35,600 metric tons by 2028.

This upward trend raises alarms among experts regarding further deforestation.

Approximately 75,000 tobacco farmers operate in Uganda.

In 2023, Uganda exported $67.9 million worth of raw tobacco, positioning it as the country’s 10th most exported product, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Adule Benon symbolizes a new generation of tobacco farmers, having embarked on this journey in 2023.

To process his harvest, he occasionally collects wood from the forest, although he also buys strings from local suppliers.

According to Adule, tobacco has proven to be a more profitable venture compared to maize for farmers over the years.

Like many in the area, Adule often ventures into the forest for water and firewood, while forest animals, especially chimpanzees, reciprocate by visiting human gardens.

“Sometimes I see them in the woods. Other times, they come to enjoy the mangoes growing in my backyard,” he shares.

A 2015 study indicated that significant land-use changes in the Budongo and Bugoma forest reserves have shifted the dynamic between local communities and chimpanzees from coexistence to conflict.

As trees continue to dwindle in the forests, encounters between humans and chimpanzees have proliferated.

“This relationship is often fraught with conflict, especially when chimps and baboons enter human spaces to compete for mangoes, bananas, and jackfruit,” Ogola explains.

“We record about 10 incidents a year, mainly involving chimpanzees targeting children under 10.”

*Nakisanze Segawa is a Global Press Journal Reporter-in-Residence based in Kampala, Uganda.

Micheal Ezati Nyakafunjo translated some interviews from Lugbara and Swahili.

*This article was originally published by Global Press Journal, which provides incisive, investigative, and in-depth explanatory reporting on the world’s most pressing issues.