This is an overview of the legal framework relevant to combating wildlife crime in Uganda

1. AN OVERVIEW OF THE POLICY AND LEGAL
FRAMEWORK FOR WILDLIFE
MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA
A PRESENTATION TO NATIONAL WILDLIFE
CRIME CORDINATION TASK FORCE
BY
CHEMONGES MONGEA SABILLA
DEPUTY DIRECTOR LEGAL & CORPORATE
AFFAIRS UWA

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Introduction
Wildlife Management models as enshrined in
the laws
Policy framework on wildlife management
Legal framework on wildlife management
Challenges in the enforcement of the law on
wildlife management
Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION
• Wildlife’ means all fauna and flora. ‘Fauna’ are animals and
birds, such as tigers and falcons, but also include fish.
‘Flora’ are plants which include timber and non-timber
forest trees. (ICCWC)
• ‘Wildlife Crime', refers to acts committed contrary to
national laws and regulations intended to protect natural
resources and to administer their management and use.
Such acts include illicit exploitation of natural resources,
like poaching of an elephant, unauthorized logging of trees,
processing of fauna and flora into products, their
transportation, offer for sale, sale, possession, among
others. (ICCWC)

4. CONT’N OF INTRODUCTION
• Wildlife is a component of the environment
and the legal framework treats it as an
important part of human’s life.
• The Government of Uganda has developed
several Policies, Laws, Regulations and
Guidelines with many institutions and
agencies response for the various functions of
enforcing the law on wildlife among others.

5. WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT MODELS AS
ENSHRINED IN THE LAWS
The Ugandan Laws have established several
approaches to wildlife conservation which include;
= Ownership approach; citizens feel a sense of
ownership as dedicated by the constitution.
=Licencing; that allows certain use and extraction
=Protection and prohibition; restricts access and
use certain resource that might be endangered.
=Offence and penalty approach; Creation of
wildlife criminal law that punishes acts that are
contravene the provisions of the law; offences are
creatures of statutes.

6. WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT MODELS AS
ENSHRINED IN THE LAWS
 =Participatory approach; all stakeholders are brought
on board
 =Precautionary approach; mitigating future dangers
 =Collaborative Wildlife Management; with
agreements and frameworks for working together.
 =Sustainable management approach; allows utilization
subject to EIA, auditing and report, monitoring and
evaluation.
 =Management Plans approach; wildlife management
is based on plans that guide every activity.

7. POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
Directive principles and state policy number
XXVII of the Constitution dedicates that the
state ensures the sustainable management of
natural resources
National Wildlife Policy 2014
The National Land use Policy 2010
National Forestry and Tree Planting Act 2001
The National Environment Policy 1995

8. CONT’N ON THE POLICY
FRAMEWORK
The Oil and Gas Policy
The National Policy for the Conservation and
Management of Wetland Resources in Uganda

9. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR WILDLIFE
MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA
The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda
The National Environment and Management
Act
Uganda Wildlife Act Cap 200
Uganda Wildlife Education and Conservation
Act
The National Forestry and Tree Planting Act
2003
The Land Act as amended

10. CONT’N ON THE LEGAL
FRAMEWORK
The Police Act
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act
The Magistrates Court Act
The Game (Preservation and Control) Act
Cap198
The Evidence Act
The Fire Arms Act
The Anti Corruption Act

11. CONT’N ON THE LEGAL
FRAMEWORK
Anti Money Laundering Act
The Penal Code Act
The Customs Management Act
The Citizens and Immigration Control Act
The Mining Act
The Petroleum (Exploration, Development and
Production) Act
The Local Government Act

12. Challenges in the enforcement of the
law on wildlife management
 Limited awareness by the stakeholders about the wildlife
laws and policies.
 Lack of interest in wildlife crime cases by officers of non-
lead agencies
 Ignorance on the importance of wildlife by officers
(need for sensitization)
 Busy schedules of other agencies on their other
mandates paralyses cases (Government to provide for
wildlife crime specialization in all relevant agencies)
 Lack of a specialized investigation team on wildlife cases

13. Cont’n on Challenges
 Limited number of wildlife crime prosecutors
(Need to appoint more)
 Lack of judicial activism in wildlife and
conservation (dialogues and lobby avenues and
more interactions with the judiciary).
 The weak sentences in the laws; (amendment to
enhance sentences)
 Limited budget allocations to efforts of
investigation and prosecution as efforts are geared
to patrols and other management mechanisms
(need for more funds in combating wildlife crime
efforts)

14. CONCLUSION
• Every public officer is a leader in conservation and
holds one of the keys to the critical wildlife survival
for for the benefit of tomorrow’s generations. As
today’s leaders, we will be judged by the extent to
which we would have conserved wildlife and handed
it over to the next generations.
• I always like to end with this famous quote; “If we can
not conserve wildlife and the environment, then we
do not deserve to exist in this God’s universe and we
should not produce other human beings just to come
and suffer in a destroyed environment” by CMS.

15. Thank you for listening
Conserving for Generations
Chemonges Mongea Sabilla