Uganda's Community Conservation Policy 2019: a new policy to strengthen the conservation of wildlife resources through the active involvement of communities

The Uganda Wildlife Authority’s Community Conservation Policy 2019 advances Uganda’s approach to community engagement and outreach. The policy highlights the strategic role of UWA’s Community Conservation Sub-Directorate, alongside law enforcement, to respond to new and growing challenges to biodiversity conservation.

One of these challenges is wildlife crime, and the policy sets out six strategies for collaborating with communities to tackle this issue, including through the formulation and implementation of Community-Based Wildlife Crime Prevention Action Plans. The policy also emphasises the critical importance communities can play in providing credible intelligence information about wildlife crime.