By Arthur Mbabazi
Lions have vanished from over 90% of their historic range, with the biggest decline occurring in the last 2 decades. They are now extinct in about 26 African Countries. The lions are currently listed as “Vulnerable” on the International Union for the conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list of threatened species.
However, in some parts of the continent, lions are now classified as “Critically Endangered”.
In Uganda, lions are mainly found in the three largest savannah parks: Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP), Kidepo Valley National Park (KVNP) and Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP). In QENP, the Ishasha lions are known for their unique behavior of climbing trees and have been branded the “Ishasha tree-climbing lions” by tourists. Lions, after mountain gorillas, are the most sought-after species by tourists visiting Uganda.
In the last one-month, Ugandan public was awash with media reports of the barbaric killing of six lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP)”. This adds to number other lions that have been killed before; On April 11, 2018, social media and the mainstream media also had reported the shocking news of the death of the eleven lions in the same National Park. The regrettable news indicated that three lionesses and eight cubs were found dead near Hamukungu fishing village in the park, a popular tourist destination giving credence that the cats had been poisoned.
Lions in Uganda continue to lose their lives as the population tries to feed them by throwing food especially meat that is laced with poison due to a number of reasons. Between May 2006 and July 2007, 15 lions were killed in the area in attacks blamed on landless herdsmen defending their cattle. In May 2010, five lions were killed in the park in another possible poisoning case. In addition, not mentioning of other important species that have also been killed in a similar manner; Apes, Elephants, pangolin, Hippos, to mention but a few most of which are Albertine Endemic. This possibly caught the readers’ eye because; Lions earn Uganda a lot of income in tourism, and we are likely to see a decline in the flow of visitors in the ishasha sector of queen Elizabeth owed to this consistent extinction of the endangered species (panthera Leo)
Invasive species (‘oburema njonjo’ as locally called) have changed the habitat food chain and the ecological function of the “Big 5” (Elephants, Lions, Buffalos and Hippos and Rhino). Those species have grown eminently due to changes in climate because they were not ordinarily for this savanna vegetation, that elephants would clear, thus savanna. This makes the habitat chains to change and when the “kings of the jungle” follow their “prey” they land in wrong hands of the poachers and traffickers.
Communities in the neighborhood are restricted from accessing the national park and other resources, life outside the protected areas to the indigenous communities is rather hard, and Covid-19 pandemic effect on tourism that has partly fed them for years has hit them as tour guides and from the sale of their produce, crafts and other items to tourists. Wildlife human conflicts have existed for long and communities have lost their crops and livestock in the process, and compensations are not commensurate to the loss where it happens. The annual revenue sharing from UWA is poorly managed, small and not addressing the issues at hand to the communities at the front line of the impact. This has made local communities appreciate little if not nothing the value of national parks other protected areas, which definitely fuels the conflict
Civil society efforts to handle such conflicts and competition for resources between people and wildlife are also frustrated by limited resource envelope, short span of interventions, leaving dilemma between communities and wildlife.
Responsible institutions on board, are charged with the duty to monitor and track the existence and health safety of these endangered species as described by IUCN and even Uganda Rating. They are equipped with gadgets like acoustics-song meters, cameras etc that show you the location of the animal, its behaviour to detect any ailment of physical condition. With these in place, this raises questions of whether these equipment are being utilized, does the authority have the required man power to execute these duties, is there sheer negligence of duty? More to that, are those strategies in place? Are they working? Because if they were thoroughly performing their responsibility, then the story would have been different.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
- Harness the indigenous knowledge of Banyabutumbi and other surrounding communities in conservation-inclusive conservation tasted on genius of place would severely avert this, this strategy would engage other Indigenous Peoples communities elsewhere in Protected areas of Uganda and Key bio-diversity zones-Indigenous leadership and partnerships for threatened species recovery
- Build vigilantism with biosphere settlement.
- Improve on incentives and incentive management with local community and other sectors, so that they appreciate conservation and protection of the Park and its species.
- Improve enforcement and implement enacted laws fairly and without fear or favor; arrest and charge the culprits.
- Tracing and monitoring- UWA and other actors should check their ‘Modus operandi’, this would have been avoided, and possibly fast veterinary services administered and /or the killers/ call them poachers stopped. Not to the extent of having enough time, liberty and freedom to Locate, Poison, and then locate the poisoned animals, slaughter them and UWA gets to know when the animals/carcasses are already rotting? If this can happen to the “Kings of the Jungle”, then imagine how many Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Tree species and pollinator bio-diversity that goes unaccounted for?
- There is also need to take stock by UWA of the wildlife species they still have, especially the threatened and endangered species most of which are in Queen Elizabeth/Albertine endemic, we need to know what we still have, and let them publish it by specie.
- Ethical research should be conducted , 1) to explore the importance of Indigenous management of land threatened species conservation; 2) the contribution that Indigenous groups currently make to threatened species conservation management, and future opportunities; 3) the relative priority of threatened species in the broader socio-cultural-environmental management priorities of Indigenous groups; 4) the influence of governance structure on Indigenous involvement; and 5) lessons for partnerships.
- Finally, find better approaches of cleaning and clearing the Park off Invasive tree/plant species. For example; Provide clean and safe to the community, install for them better schools, Health Facilities, Eco-agriculture and link them to market, and where possible engage them productively in community Tourism. Than what you think, you are currently offering them through the revenue sharing that has no visible impact.
The author is the Executive Director Literacy Action and Development Agency (LADA).
m.arthur@lada-uganda.org