The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) will on Monday, June 15, dispense Shs 455m to three regions that share borders with Lake Mburo national park in the western part of the country.
Isingiro is supposed to receive Shs 194m; Kiruhura will get Shs 232m; while Mbarara will get Shs 28m through the required 20% revenue sharing agreement with the neighboring areas and local governments as recommended in law. As per the spokesman of UWA, Jossy Muhangi, the money will be utilized to fund the implementation of conservation projects identified in the respective regions.
“We additionally have gathered Shs 220mn toward the end of April 2015. These funds will be ready for dispensing toward the end of the financial year,” Muhangi included in a statement.
Famous for its zebras, hippos, and eland antelopes, Lake Mburo National Park, which covers an area of 370square kilometers, receives over 26000 tourists every year.
Part of the revenues gathered from the national park’s tourists is dispensed to neighboring communities to implement projects aimed at improving their livelihoods, furthermore decrease any pressures that may emerge out of the different interests between the national park’s management and the local communities.
Some of the advantages include upgrading of 36km of gravel roads in the encompassing regions, construction of 36 classrooms and six staff quarters, two health units, a water dam, and a three-kilometer water pipeline. Available statistics show that Uganda Wildlife Authority has dispensed Shs 1.3bn for such projects since 2001.
Other community advantage-sharing projects related to the protected regions and wildlife management around the national park incorporate sport hunting, controlled fishing, water access during the dry season, and firewood collecting.