Sport Hunting to Save Nature? The Case of Uganda

Abstract

After having banned sport hunting in 1979, Uganda reintroduced it in 2001 around Lake Mburo National Park, and in 2006 in the Kabwoya and Kaiso-Tonya Game Management Area, with the aim to reduce human-wildlife conflicts, especially poaching, by providing incentives for the local inhabitants in order to positively change residents' attitudes towards wildlife. We conducted interviews and reviewed documents to analyse and evaluate the impacts of reintroduction of sport hunting. The income generated from sport hunting was used to provide social services and implement social development projects. There was no proof of hunting income being used for conservation purposes. Although the local perceptions of the sport hunting benefits varied, the benefits did initially help to improve local residents' attitudes towards wildlife and poaching temporarily stopped-but resumed later. Hence, this study shows that the common underlying assumption of sport hunting policies and other market-and community-based approaches to conservation-that when local residents receive benefits, they will appreciate wildlife-is debatable.

Relationships between Anthropogenic Activities and Distribution of Medium to Large Mammal Species Assemblage in Madi Wildlife Corridor: Implication for Biodiversity Conservation in Uganda

“…Although illegal hunting of all forms was banned in Uganda in 1979 (Amos et al 2020), this was continuing in Madi Corridor as was noted in this study. Generally, all mammal species were targeted by poachers and poaching pressure appeared to have significantly increased with the return of peace in the area and as the community started to return from IDPs to a more settled life.…”

Historical Perspectives of Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Sanga-Lake Mburo former Pastoral Rangeland Ecosystem, Uganda

“…The government's promotion for commercialized and modernized agriculture, further privatization of the land, and sedentarization (Tukahirwa, 2002;Mugisha, 2002;Olson et al, 2004;Byenkya, 2004;Wurzinger et al, 2009) also causes increased settlements and farmlands. Intensified modernized agriculture, for example, rearing of exotic breeds, also requires clearing vegetation to provide grazing land for exotic breeds (Ochieng et al, 2020), causing a reduction in woodland cover outside the park. Katushabe (2014) noted that farmers who adopted exotic species cleared woodland.…”

“…We also observed that pastoralists are still clearing woodland in their ranches. Built-up areas and farmland increase were further boosted by the government expenditure of proceedings from the sport hunting in supporting arable farming, roads, and semipermanent house construction (Ochieng, 2019;Ochieng et al, 2020). Other factors, such as restricting communal grazing land due to fencing of land by private owners (Kisamba-Mugerwa, 1995) necessitated settlements.…”