Uganda Shillings One billion, six hundred eighteen million, five hundred thousand (Ugx1.6185 bn) raised.

President Yoweri Museveni's daughter, Diana Museveni Kyaremera, on Thursday spearheaded the inaugural fundraising drive for the Uganda Chimpanzee Conservation strategy at State House, Entebbe.

President Yoweri Museveni posing for a photo with some of the guests.

The fundraising event saw contributions from the invited guests, including sh1 billion from President Yoweri Museveni, the chief guest.

In partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute and the tourism industry, she extended her gratitude towards the wellwishers who honoured her invitation and attended the fundraising dinner in support of the chimpanzee conservation strategy.

President Yoweri Museveni and Diana Museveni Kyaremera posing for a photo with some of the guests.

Kyaremera made a case for saving the chimpanzees from a tourism perspective.

She emphasised the critical need to protect the chimpanzees for future generations, rallying the invited guests to contribute to the conservation strategy in order to ensure the existence of the endangered species.

Kyaremera praised the strides made by the tourism industry, noting that tourism contributes significantly to Uganda's GDP, accounting for over 7% and employing 6.7% of the national workforce.

'We are still standing'

The First Daughter highlighted the sector's resilience, quoting World Travel and Tourism Council statistics predicting a focus on earnings of $9.5 trillion, showcasing recovery despite global economic challenges.

“As much as tonight is about conservation, I would like to take the opportunity to celebrate our tourism industry.

President Yoweri Museveni addressing the guests during the fundraising drive.

"We have taken some substantial hits as an industry, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so I think it is important as an industry to come together to celebrate the fact that we have overcome major setbacks and we are still standing."

Before the pandemic, Kyaremera noted, the tourism industry employed over 334 million people around the world but due to the pandemic, 70 million people lost their jobs.

Nevertheless, by 2022, 32.6 million new jobs had been created in the industry.

Structural conservation

President Museveni commended his daughter's commitment to wildlife conservation.

Museveni highlighted Uganda’s unique conservation, pointing out the many national parks and game reserves.

He underscored the distinctive combination of latitude and altitude in Uganda, the diverse flora and fauna and emphasised the importance of preserving this unique ecosystem.

“A number of countries are on the equator, but the uniqueness of Uganda is that while we are at the equator, we also have a high altitude. The lowest part of Uganda in the Rift Valley is about 600 metres above sea level and the highest part is 5,000 metres above sea level. That is how you end up with permanent snow on the equator," said the President.

"This combination of latitude and altitude gives us flora and fauna which is really unique, so you Ugandans who are fighting for conservation, you need to know that."

Museveni advised a shift towards structural conservation, integrating economic development with wildlife protection.

He urged for societal transformation, moving towards a middle-class society and skilled working class in order to reduce the reliance on agriculture.

“Now, I have heard your target that you are collecting money to help the communities around the parks and so on, and persuade them into being friendly to the animals.

"My advise to the conservationists is that in order to have structured conservation, you must work for the social economic metamorphosis of African societies, part of the damage done to Africa by colonialism in the last 600 years because the Europeans have been disturbing us since then," said the President.

“This is the problem we are living with today. When we talk about wildlife-human conflict, we mean the peasants, they are the ones who are fighting against invading conservation habitats, so therefore you the conservatives, listen carefully to my advice. If you are going to have less confrontational conservation, work for the social economic metamorphosis of society”.

The President opined that there are two dangers of conservation, including underdevelopment of the peasants who have continuously underutilised land with agriculture and lack of electrification.

“In order to save the environment, the chimpanzees and the forest, we must work towards electrification of Africa and Latin-America. When you do that, then it will help you to protect the forests, wetlands which are habitats for the wild animals."

The Albertine Rift region, including Kibale National Park, Budongo Forest Reserve, and Queen Elizabeth National Park, serves as a crucial habitat for the primates.

Currently, Uganda is home to around 5,000 chimpanzees and 1,500 of these live in Kibale Forest.

Tourism minister Tom Butime highlighted the endangered status of chimpanzees and emphasized the importance of innovative financing mechanisms for wildlife conservation.

He assured transparent utilization of funds, emphasizing the government's commitment to protect endangered species.

Dr Jane Goodall, in a video message, praised Uganda's dedication to wildlife conservation despite growing threats.

She emphasized the need for collaboration with local communities and outlined the increasing conflict between humans and chimpanzees due to habitat destruction.

“As the case everywhere, chimpanzees in Uganda face threats, especially habitat destruction, trafficking and others despite the efforts done by the government, conservation rangers, NGOs and most especially the local communities that have all played their part in efforts to protect our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees from these dangers,” said Goodall.

'We are recovering'

Sam Mwadha, the executive director of Uganda Wildlife Authority, affirmed the commitment to chimpanzee conservation, noting the financial contributions from tourism-related activities.

He said that annual revenue from chimpanzee conservation in Uganda currently stands at sh30 billion.

“In the year 2022/23, the authority (UWA) collected sh228.3 billion that to me is small, but you need to look at it pre-COVID when we thought we had had the highest figures in 2018/2019 was only sh120 billion.

"So, we are already seeing that we are surpassing the pre-COVID levels and we are properly recovering and we hope that we can continue in the same manner,” he said.

Mwadha said that as Uganda aims to safeguard its national treasures, the fundraising initiative marks a crucial step towards ensuring the survival and prosperity of chimpanzees in the region.