NatureUganda (NU) is the branch of the East Africa Natural History Society (EANHS) in Uganda. EANHS was set up in 1909 and thus the oldest conservation organization in East Africa. It started as a scientific organization with the primary aim of documenting the diversity of wildlife in East Africa. Ronald Kalyango interviewed This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it NU’s Executive Director whether there is a need to celebrate 100. Below are the excerpts.

Qn: 100 years of Nature conservation, is there a need to celebrate?

Ans: We have to celebrate because it is a long time since around 1909, some scientists, naturalists, professional hunters and others with interest in the natural world living in what was then called British East Africa got together and founded the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society. These people gave us a starting point on how to conserve nature. We have tried to train the youth who are interested in nature conservation and also been more involved in public awareness campaigns about nature conservation, we have always argued that nature can’t be understood by technocrats alone, it is the reason we decided to involve the local communities in all activities geared towards nature conservation. We have been able to pinpoint the most important areas for conservation like the Ramsar sites; these are wetlands ofwith international importance and. also Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Qn: For a long time the president has been referring to environmentalists as saboteurs. What is your take on this?

Ans: We have never been saboteurs and negative in all our advocacy campaigns. We are interested in nature conservation and I think all environmental based NGOs are partners with government. If we inform government that the National Park or any natural forest should not be encroached on, we always base our advice on research, after a thorough assessment of the conservation value and the economic activity intended for a particular area.

Qn: Apart from Mabira forest ‘give away campaign’ what other campaigns has your organization executed and been successful?

Ans: Before the Mabira campaign we had been at the forefront of wetland conservation in the country. We had managed to identify 10 more Ramsar sites in addition to the only two which had been in existence since 1989. Today apart from Lake George and Lake Nabugabo there are more 10 sites which are internationally recognized. We have also continued to inform government about wetlands that are endangered like Lutembe bay which is currently threatened by flower cultivation. FromIn 2004 we havewere also been at the forefront of de-campaigningsupporting efforts which aimed conserving degazetting the country’s critical natural forests like Echuya, the only natural forest reserve in Kabale district. We are working with districts of Bushenyi, Kamwenge and Ibanda to conserve Kashoha-Kitomi and others.

Qn: How rich is Uganda’s bird species and if tourists wanted to watch birds where can they go?

Ans: The whole of Uganda is highly rich in biodiversity; each area has different bird species that is why it is ranked 10th in the whole world among the countries with the richest biodiversity. Can you imagine out of the 2,000 bird species found in Africa Uganda has overabout 1000, 50% of all found on the African continent;? Karamoja, Bundibugyo, albertine rift, L. Victoria (best areas for watching water birds) and the cattle corridor all these have unique birds which I think would be attractive to birders. Birding is one of the most hidden treasures and an income generating activity which Uganda should not neglect. The government has to identify such places and embark on their promotion purposely for revenue collectionincome generation. It is estimated that there are about 40 million people in the whole world who are interested in birding, if the industry was organized and we targeted only 1% of this number, Uganda would be able to raise over US$40 millions from birdwatching alone every yearUS$5000 from each tourist. We only need to be innovative enough to attract these people.

Qn: What are the most endangered species?

Ans: Out of 1040 birds found in different parts of the country, a total of 38 bird species are under threat of extinction. Shoebill is one of the bird species which is restricted to wetlands and these have been degraded over the time. There are about 5,000 Shoebills birds in the whole world out of which Uganda has about 600 birds. The other bird species under threat are those restricted to the forests like Nahan’s Francolin in Mabira Forest , these are on the decline as more forests are being degraded.

Qn: What challenges does your organization face in a bid to conserve the environment?

Ans: Uganda is a very diverse country in terms of bird species; this means if it is possible the whole country needed to be gazetted for nature conservation. So the biggest challenge before us is identifying such areas which should not be encroached on at whatever cost. We are living in environment whose population is highly ‘infested’ with poverty, which means it has become very difficult to convince such people to conserve the nature. There is development pressure and we We would encourage communities to embrace particular community activities but we don’t have enough resources to promote such activities at all conservation sites.

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