The National Wildlife Conservation Conference 2024
THEME: Connecting People and the Planet: Exploring Digital Innovations for Wildlife Conservation
The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities (MTWA) in partnership with NatureUganda, the East African Natural History Society, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Uganda Wildlife Research and Training Institute (UWRTI) have organized a National Wildlife Conservation Conference as part of the World Wildlife day celebrations 2024. The celebrations are organised under a Theme “Connecting People and the Planet: Exploring Digital Innovations for Wildlife Conservation.” As we strive to achieve universal digital connectivity in wildlife conservation and trade by 2030, this theme highlights the need to ensure digital inclusion for all, involves bridging financial gaps to build equitable access to conservation tools and technologies, strengthening digital capacity-building and considering the impacts on all communities and ecosystems. It also highlights the need to mobilize new commitments to ambitious policy and funding approaches that unite civil society, the technology industry, conservationists and traders toward sustainable adaptation and preservation of nature in this digital age.
Under this theme, “Connecting People and the Planet: Exploring Digital Innovations for Wildlife Conservation.”. the conference aims to raise awareness about the latest applications of digital technologies in wildlife conservation and trade and about the impact of digital interventions on ecosystems and communities around the world while putting light on the bottlenecks in the drive to human-wildlife coexistence, now and for future generations in an increasingly connected world.
Objectives
- Share experiences with existing and planned state-of-the-art space technologies and applications that provide solutions for wildlife management (flora and fauna) and for protecting biodiversity, including for biodiversity assessments, ecosystem and wildlife habitat management, wildlife monitoring and tracking, as well as for addressing wildlife crime.
- Present capacity building opportunities to implement Digital solutions for conservation.
- Recommend relevant legal and regulatory aspects to be adopted by the country.
- Identify bottlenecks to harnessing digital solutions for conservation.
- Create awareness on available technologies and opportunities in wildlife conservation.
Given our involvement in biodiversity conservation and research work, different researchers will be presenting papers on work related to the theme for this year’s celebrations. The conference will take place at the Uganda Museum on Thursday 22nd February, 2024 in Kampala.
Venue: Uganda Museum
Time: 8:00am – 5:00pm
Conference mode: Physical and Zoom
Presenters and Presentations: See program
| Time | Activity |
| 0800 – 0900 | Arrival & Registration |
| Session One: Chair – Dr. Robert Kityo, Chairman, NatureUganda | |
| 0900 – 0920 | Welcome Remarks – Ag. Commissiner Wildlfe Conservation, Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities – Mr. George Owoyesigire |
| 0920 – 0950 | Opening Remarks – Minister of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities – Hon. Tom Butime |
| 0950 – 1020 | Guest of Honor speech – Minister of ICT and National Guidance – Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi |
| 1020 – 1100 | PLENARY: Combating Illegal Wildlife trade and Trafficking – Sam Mwandha, Executive Director, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) |
| 1100 – 1130 | Tea Break |
| Session Two: Chair – Dr. Panta Kasoma | |
| 1130 – 1200 | The role of Zoohackthons in Conservation – Dr. James Musinguzi, Executive Director, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) |
| 1200 – 1230 | The role of Digital tracking devices: SMART Technologies in Conservation – Ivan Tumuhimbise, Country Director, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) |
| Parallel Presentations: Session Chair – Dr. Mathias Behangana | |
| 1230 – 1300 | Data analytics and predictive modelling – Dr. Herbert Kasozi, Lecturer of Zoology, Makerere University |
| Improving the implementation of Conventions by using modern Information and Communication Technologies to simplify compliant trade and to combat illegal trade. A case of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Mr. George Owoyesigire – Ag. Commissioner, Wildlife Conservation (MTWA) | |
| 1300 – 1345 | PLENARY |
| 1345 – 1445 | Lunch Break |
| Session Three | |
| Parallel Presentations 1: Session Chair – Mr. John Makombo | |
| 1445 – 1515 | The Role of molecular labs in Uganda as Digital Innovations for Wildlife Conservation: A case study of the Mweya Molecular Lab – Dr. Margret Driciru, Uganda Wildlife Authority |
| The role of academic institutions in wildlife conservation research (UWRTI) | |
| 1515 – 1530 | Using Digital Innovations in tracking illegal wildlife trade: examples showing pros and cons in Uganda – Mr. Patrick Chiyo, Trace network |
| Parallel Presentations 2: Session Chair – Dr. Akite Perpetra | |
| 1530 – 1630 | Local based monitoring: How citizen science contributes to wildlife data generation through modern mobile applications – Jimmy Muheebwa, Director Conservation & Partnerships, NatureUganda |
| Data sharing and collaboration platforms: Data Sharing best practices in conservation networks – Michael Kibuule, Program Manager, NatureUganda | |
| 1630 – 1645 | Data Visualization and Analysis Technology: Earth Ranger – Michael Keigwin, Uganda Conservation Foundation |
| 1645 – 1700 | PLENARY |
| 1700 – 1730 | Closing Remarks – Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities – Mrs Doreen Katusiime |
| END | |
