The wildlife conservation and tourism fraternity in Uganda have received a great boost.
President Yoweri Museveni has assented to Uganda Wildlife Act 2017 that was passed by parliament early this year.
The law states that when caught, a poacher or poachers involved in killing endangered species will face life imprisonment or pay fine of Shs20 billion or both.
It also entails wildlife User Rights like hunting, farming, ranching, trading, and educational and research and general extraction use rights. It is based on the principle that economic benefits from wildlife can lead to better custodianship of wildlife resources.
“Community participation in wildlife management strengthened through Community Wildlife Committees for each Protected Area, the introduction of up to life sentence and fine of UGX 20Billion or both for wildlife crime involving endangered species and reforming revenue sharing program into conditional grants to communities are some of the highlights in the new law.
The new law also provides for the conservation and sustainable management of wildlife, strengthen wildlife conservation and management, and streamline roles and responsibilities for institutions in wildlife conservation and management.
It also provides for compensation where a person is killed, suffers bodily injury or suffers damage to his or her crops or livestock by the wild animals listed under the Fourth Schedule of the law. The listed wild animals include elephants, lions, leopards, crocodiles, buffaloes, hyenas, hippopotamus, gorillas and chimpanzees.
It also promotes commercialization of wildlife on private land through sustainable utilization and domesticated CITES implementation in Uganda.
According to Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Wildlife management was once the responsibility of government however concerns grew about how wildlife management would be achieved without support from district authorities, communities and the private sector and there was the need to involve other stakeholders through the act.
The new law comes with significant reforms transforming wildlife conservation in Uganda. The act provides for Community participation in wildlife management strengthened through Community Wildlife Committees for each Protected Area.
