Africa : Uganda: Wildlife Authority Signs Agreement
on 2009/10/5 8:15:38
Kampala — The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) yesterday signed two agreements with Amuru and Nakasongola districts to manage wild animals in the areas.

The tripartite agreements were signed between UWA, representatives of the communities and the Uganda Wildlife Safari, a private company, at the UWA headquarters in Kampala.

The first agreement was with the association of private land owners in Aswa Lolim and Amuru district led by the chairperson, Anthony Atube Omach.

The second was signed between the Nakasongola district representatives led by the chairperson, James Wandira.

The UWA was prompted to seek agreements with the communities after several complaints that animals were destroying property and lives.

The UWA chief, Moses Mapesa, yesterday said another reason was that some animals were being hunted illegally for meat.

"The partnership agreement is to help in managing the wild animals living outside the parks and reserves. We want to promote sustainable co-existence and tourism," Mapesa said.

The agreements followed sensitisation of the communities to use the animals for generating money instead of killing them for meat, the chairperson of the land owners in the Aswa Lolim wildlife association, Zachary Olum, said.

The Uganda Wildlife Safaris chief, Christian Weth, said the partnerships will also help in translocating animals from places where they are in large numbers to areas where they are few.

This would also help in sustaining the animal population since indiscriminate killing would be curbed, he added.

According to Mapesa, illegal hunting of animals for trophies, which is threatening animals with extinction, will stop because only mature males would be killed.