Improving community attitudes towards conservation: learning from efforts to address wildlife crime in Uganda
In Uganda, many people illegally hunt, traffic or trade wildlife because other opportunities to earn money are limited. But poaching is also driven by anger and resentment towards increasing conflict between humans and wildlife, and the feeling among communities that parks don’t take their concerns seriously or do enough to support them. This case study looks at how park-led, community-based activities in Uganda’s Murchison Falls Conservation Area and surrounding villages have worked to change the way people think about conserving the wildlife that’s on their doorstep. It draws on findings from an evaluation of the ‘Implementing park action plans for community engagement to tackle IWT’ project, which was funded by the UK government’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, and aims to provide insights for future efforts to combat wildlife crime — in Uganda and beyond.
