Course participants of the National Defence College – Uganda (NDC – U) in Buikwe district, led by the Commandant Maj Gen Francis Okello, on Saturday successfully completed a one – week study tour of North Eastern Uganda.
The tour ended with a visit to Murchison Falls National Park.
The team was welcomed and briefed by the Principal Warden Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Murchison Falls National Park Dr. Margaret Driciru who highlighted the work and contribution of the Authority to the social economic development of Uganda.
UWA was established by an Act of Parliament under the Wildlife Authority Act 2000 and it is a government parastatal with a mandate to conserve wildlife with vision of being the leading wildlife conservation agency in the world.
Uganda has 10% of it’s land surface gazatted as protected area with 10 national parks, 12 wildlife reserves and 13 wildlife sanctuaries with Murchison Falls National Park as the largest, followed by Bwindi National Park.
Dr. Margaret noted that wildlife attracts tourists and brings in foreign exchange thus the need to conserve, preserve and exploit all possible avenues to develop it. She added that UWA fulfills its Corporate Social Responsibility activity by sharing the collected revenue with the local communities around the parks, buying their produce and offering them employment.
She, however, decried challenges from poaching and wildlife snaring, road kills from reckless drivers in the parks, livestock rearing which transmits animal diseases to wildlife, climate change and disasters like floods, disease and inadequate conservation funding.
The in charge of oil and conservation at the Uganda Wildlife Authority Murchison Falls National Park, Warden Dhabasadha Moses explained what has been done to harmonize the co-existence and exploitation of the oil resource and wildlife since some oil wells are located inside the parks; yet both oil and wildlife are important resources for development.
The Commandant NDC-Uganda Maj Gen Francis Okello thanked UWA Murchison Falls National Park for the presentation and guided tour of the park and the scenery of the Murchison Falls.
The study tour cut across various sectors including agriculture, industry, infrastructure, Information and communication Technology (ICT) and services.
National Defence College -Uganda (NDC-U) is the highest military institution of learning in Uganda where policy analysis and ground strategy formulation for strategic security, stability and prosperity take place.
Bujagali Falls Hydro Power Plant, Kakira Sugar Works, Tororo Cement Factory, SINO-UGANDA Industrial Park, Lira and Gulu cities, and Meru Grain Millers, were among the many places visited by the course participants during the past week.
The course runs for One Year. This year’s course participants are the first Intake at the college since its inception in January by the President and Commander-In-Chief of the UPDF H.E Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
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