Entebbe Zoo wins Waza biodiversity award

By Cecilia Okoth

The Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) commonly known as Entebbe Zoo scooped a biodiversity award from the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria (WAZA).

WAZA is a body that combines all Zoos and aquariums in the world.

Entebbe Zoo got the award at the just concluded WAZA annual general meeting and conference that took place at Alain Zoo in United Arab Emirates last month.

They were recognised for excelling in using biodiversity-related educational materials supporting the United Nations Decade for Biodiversity, 2011–2020, which aims at making people aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably.

Entebbe Zoo won the Biodiversity award in Africa for using the tools innovatively during Miss Tourism Uganda promotion, in video halls, at animal exhibits in Entebbe Zoo, at the entrance of the Zoo, Local Television and Workshops.
 
WAZA, an official partner of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) set out a project to produce conservation education communication materials involving posters, Mobile App, for raising awareness about biodiversity in zoo and aquarium visitors.

This awareness project intends to strengthen the capacity of WAZA member zoos and aquariums to communicate about their conservation role and efforts.

WAZA zoos from all over the world were supposed to apply these tools accompanied by an evaluation of the knowledge about and perception of biodiversity in zoo and aquarium visitors, also to assess the effectiveness of the tools developed for awareness-raising to evaluate of zoos and aquariums as education Centres.
 
Statistics from WAZA, in collaboration with national and regional zoo and aquarium associations, show that annually, more than 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums worldwide, and are thus potentially exposed to environmental education which inspires people to care about nature by seeing live animals.

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