Building a Foundation for Sustainable Wildlife Trade in Uganda

1. BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR SUSTAINABLE WIDLIFE TRADE IN UGANDAA REVIEW OF NATIONAL WILDLIFE TRADE POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA International Workshop on Wildlife Trade Geneva, 21-23 April 2008

2. Introduction • Project was implemented between June 2007-February 2008; • Broad objective –to examine the current policies for wildlife in Uganda, potential environmental, social and economic impacts of such trade, and build capacity of Government officials to undertake review and reform of policies governing wildlife trade. • The study was designed: • to analyze the trends in trade in wildlife fauna and flora in Uganda; • Describe the current institutional and legal framework for wildlife trade in the country; and • examine the opportunities and challenges for promoting a sustainable national wildlife trade regime consistent with Uganda’s obligations under CITES and other related international agreements regulating such trade.

4. The Policy Landscape for Wildlife Trade • The Constitution Basis for Wildlife Trade • Right to development: wildlife trade can be a vehicle to encourage private initiative and self-reliance in pursuance of the right to development articulated under Part X of the National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy; • Balanced and equitable development: wildlife trade is a potential wildlife enterprise that if promoted can enhance the constitutional objective of promoting a balanced and equitable development between rural and urban areas (Part XII of National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy ) • Responsible stewardship of the environment: Part XII of the National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy - “The State shall protect important natural resources, including land, water, minerals, wetlands, oil, fauna and flora on behalf of the people of Uganda.” • Ownership of wildlife: natural resources belong to citizens and are held in trust for citizens (article 237(2)(b).

5. Sector Legislation and Policy • Ownership of wildlife • Ownership of wildlife (plant and animal) existing in its wild habitat is vested in Government on behalf of, and for the benefit of, the people of Uganda (sec. 3(1) – this is inconsistent with the constitutional position in article 237(2)(b). • The position on ownership articulated in the Act is re-affirmed by the Uganda Wildlife Policy 1999- in the narrative (para 2.3); • Sec. 3(2) creates a basis for private ownership of wildlife as an exception to the general rule in sec 3(1) – “if any protected species is lawfully taken under a permit or a license issued or wildlife use right granted or issued under this Act, the ownership of that animal or plant shall , subject to this Act and to the terms and conditions of the license, vest in the license or right holder.”;

6. Other Relevant Policy & Legal Instruments • The National Environment Management Policy and National Environment Management Act • National Forestry Policy and the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act • The National Trade Policy • National Oil and Gas Policy • Agriculture policy as may be deduced in various policy and national planning documents:- • give conventional agriculture elevated political profile; • Emphasis on diversification create an entry point for wildlife farming enterprises and part of the agriculture enterprise; • The National Environment (Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing) Regulations:-

7. Environmental Impacts

8. Social Impacts

9. Economic Impacts

10. Policy Analysis and Findings • Legal & Policy Issues:- mainly need to bring the Wildlife Act and policy in conformity with the Constitution: • Ownership of wildlife as a trust resource; • Ownership of wildlife on private land; • Wildlife in bred in captivity- does the grant of a permit for a particular wild animal or plant cover the species bred in captivity – this is essential for wildlife ranching; • Integrity of wildlife ecosystems especially the protected estate; • Institutional Issues:- mainly need to clarify institutional mandates and ensure clear channels of accountability and responsibility;

11. Policy Analysis and Findings • Selected Specific Findings:- • Wildlife trade is very small as compared to other small components of export trade such as cotton, which fetches US$ 16 million, and much smaller than tourism, which records over US$160 million. • Continuous destruction of tortoise and turtle habitat ecosystems such as wetlands and forests which are increasingly being converted into settlement and farmland largely account for the dwindling numbers of this species. • Increasing pressure on wildlife is likely to come from an economic development policy that heavily biased towards agriculture, industrialization and related forms of investments;

12. Policy Analysis and Findings • Specific Findings:- • Oil exploitation in the Albertine Rift – in addition to the potential threats paused by oil exploitation activities on protected areas, Ugandan wildlife trade is likely to receive increased attention and scrutiny. • Generally increased destruction of the habitat through: • Continuing destruction of the habitat especially through: • Degazettment of protected areas; • Encroachment through agriculture and human settlements; • Uncertainty over land use policies; • Weak institutional capacity, weak enforcement of regulation and low human resource capacity in areas such as breeding, handling multiplication, resource monitoring, resource assessments and distribution.

13. Recommendations • Ensure certainty in the legal regime and consistence with the Constitution regarding trusteeship over wildlife and protected areas; • Clarify ownership of wildlife and accruing property rights in wildlife on private land and wildlife from ranching; • Design and implement a package of incentives to promote ex situ wildlife management and enterprise activities as the foundation for a robust wildlife trade; • Ensure specific and accurate data – ecological data, economic data relevant for improvement of the management of wildlife species; assessment and monitoring of species and their utilization, regulation of the trade, and for proper decision making during determination of quotas and during licensing. • diversify wildlife trade to include - Non-timber Forest Products, ornamental fish, animal reptile skins, edible snails, mollusk shells which are globally traded at US$ 200 million and game meat, traded at US$ 120 million; • Streamline licensing procedures and documentation for trade; • Policy on wildlife trade should emphasize that the viability and stability of wildlife species in in situ conditions is a condition precedent for a growing and sustainable wildlife trade.

14. Recommendations -continued • Institutionalize the current institutional collaboration through an MoU ensuring clarification of mandates, setting agreed targets and creating certainty with respect to areas of collaboration and inter-institutional accountability; • Evidence based decision making • Regular collection and dissemination of data. • Development of clear monitoring indicators.-wildlife sustainability indicators; resource stability and productivity indicators; equity indicators

15. Comment on the Draft Framework • How useful: • Its main value is in reminding us to ensure that the review addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental; • Methodologically, it ensures that the design of the review process considers all the relevant stakeholders; • Shortcoming • Outline makes you think in a box hence suppressing intellectual creativity and freedom; • Focuses more on the need to create consistence of country reports than communicate to the national audience;

16. CONCLUSION • Current trends in wildlife trade as evidenced by trade data and the growing number of wildlife enterprises clearly suggest that wildlife trade has potential for growth. • The case studies analyzed in this report also show that wildlife trade-based projects have the potential to yield substantial economic, social and conservation gains for the country. • It is apparent that there is growing interest among private actors to exploit the fast growing wildlife enterprise opportunities. • Exploiting the range of opportunities identified and implementing the suggested recommendation can lead to the emergence strong wildlife and wildlife enterprises that could boost wildlife conservation and economic development; • The existing working partnership between the relevant agencies of Government provides an essential building block for making appropriate reforms and ensuring that such reforms re-emphasize sustainable management and conservation of wildlife as the fundamental objectives for wildlife trade