Public Talk PC-Poster – 1

NatureUganda in collaboration with World Animal Protection is organising a Public Talk on “Protecting Uganda’s parrots: Overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities to save an iconic species’’. Uganda has over 1,070 confirmed bird species records and the highest density of bird species per unit area in Africa, and birding has become an important tourism product in Uganda.

However, many species are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and demand from people for many purposes, including food, clothing, ornamentation, cultural practices, sport, and perhaps most prevalently, as pets. This demand has become a big global trade which has paused a serious threat to the survival of many species. One group that has been heavily impacted are the Parrots, in particular the African Grey Parrots which are the most traded birds. It is widely estimated that over 1.2 million wild-sourced African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) have reportedly been traded internationally since the 1970s, the majority of which were taken from the wild. Today, the African Grey parrot is categorised as Globally Endangered. Although Uganda took a bold step to stop trade in live wildlife, the grey parrot species is still in global decline.

NatureUganda and World Animal Protection have come together and organised a Public lecture on ‘Protecting Uganda’s parrots: Overcoming challenges and seizing opportunities to save an iconic species’’ to raise awareness about the dangers of wildlife trade, in particular trade in parrots and propose some opportunities to save the species. The keynote speaker is Dr Rowan Martin from World Parrot Trust who has widely published on Grey Parrots.

This Public talk is scheduled for Thursday 28th, November 2024 starting 2:00pm at Hotel Africana.