Why IFAW is building a wildlife crime intervention hub in Uganda

Straddling the majestic Nile River, Uganda—known as ‘the pearl of Africa’—is blessed with lush soils, abundant rainfall, and a stunning array of landscapes, including tropical rainforests, savannahs, woodlands, and montane forests. When it earned this nickname at the turn of the 20th century, the country, like most of Africa, teemed with biodiversity. 

However, like its East African neighbours, Uganda suffered a severe spate of poaching in the 1980s, which, combined with political instability, wiped out the country’s black rhino and nearly annihilated its elephant population, reducing it from 30,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 1,000 individuals. As of 2018, 14 mammal species in Uganda are flagged by the IUCN Red List as ‘nationally threatened.’ 

Wildlife faced the severest threat in disturbed transboundary landscapes steeped in political crises and civil unrest. Iconic animals such as the critically endangered mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes Transboundary Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage complex shared between Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC, were in grave peril, as were elephants in Kidepo, a savannah landscape which spanning Uganda and South Sudan.  

The early 2000s was, fortunately, a period of recovery for both parks and wildlife. Political stability, stronger anti-poaching laws, law enforcement efforts by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), and the support of partners such as IFAW have seen wildlife populations stabilize, with the elephant population now estimated at 7,200 as per the UWA 2023 protected area census.  

A new threat on the rise 

The contraband, he explained, is smuggled into Uganda and transported in small quantities, which are consolidated in secure locations, concealed in scrap metal, charcoal, and bananas, and moved in trucks to Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, and Port Pointe-Noire in Republic of the Congo.  

IFAW started supporting park operations and law enforcement in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls, and Kidepo National Parks in the 1980s to protect endangered elephant populations. ‘Our footprints are still visible in the form of old vehicles and field ranger outposts from the 1990s,’ says IFAW Uganda Program Manager Moses Olinga.  

Community engagement and collaboration 

Alarmed by an increase in the trafficking of elephant ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales within East Africa region, IFAW broadened its scope in 2014—engaging communities in wildlife areas and building the capacity of state officials in Entebbe to detect, investigate and prosecute wildlife crimes. Across the Virunga landscape, IFAW facilitated close collaboration between Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth and Virunga National Parks to improve joint patrols, intelligence sharing, transboundary investigations, and arrests and seizures.  

The establishment of IFAW as a permanent entity in Uganda, will increase our reach across other east andcentral African countries, including DRC and South Sudan and spearhead urgent conservation interventions.

‘We plan to strengthen the connectivity between the transboundary landscapes that Uganda shares with Kenya, DR Congo and South Sudan by working with wildlife authorities, communities, and other development partners to increase the room to roam for wildlife and make these spaces safer for people and biodiversity,’ Moses says.  

Conservation funding is critically needed to improve community participation and the welfare of game scouts to help mitigate human-elephant conflicts, support anti-poaching operations, and curb wildlife trafficking across the porous international boundaries that Uganda shares with neighbouring countries.