Conservation in totality- The case of Murchison Falls

By Patrick Agaba

According to Oxford Dictionary, the word conservation means to preserve, to protect, maintain, safeguard and perpetuate anything of importance. Its antonym is to squander, or waste.

The meaning of conservation suggests that what is being conserved has intrinsic value or worth that cannot be substituted for anything else or obtained from anything else even of similar characteristics.

When it comes to conservation of nature, to be specific conservation for tourism, for present and future generation, it should be Conservation in totality.

By this, I mean that every species or physical feature is unique and provides a unique satisfaction to the person experiencing it.

It is a combination of different species of animals, plants, physical features, climate, culture, to mention but a few, that tourists spend their time and money to come to Uganda to experience.

Therefore, Conservation should be viewed in the totality of what each distinct tourist attraction offers in its intrinsic worth and what that worth or value contributes to the total package of a top tourist destination that Uganda offers to the world.

Reducing that Tourism value by one major feature of Murchison Falls will be a retrogressive statement by Uganda. My worry and many Ugandans is that this will mark the beginning of a backward and no return journey in destroying our heritage in the area of Conservation and Tourism. 

Besides, if the government can plan to eliminate such a heritage of World tourism importance then why would a poacher fear to kill one or two elephants for some ivory?

Pardon my disappointment, I wouldn't expect any rational Ugandan moreover in a place of leadership to have such a thought of eliminating Murchison Falls. No one should be deceived that you can develop Uhuru Falls which is few meters away without affecting Murchison falls.

In 2015 Uganda has announced the best tourism destination in the world. I believe the falls contributed tremendously to this realisation.

How then can we be trying to destroy the very ladders that took us to that height?

The expected response from government and stakeholders than would be how to harness the already flourishing tourism sector so that it performs optimally. Conservation which is the foundation of tourism should be given priority.

While I do not refute that Uganda needs more electricity, I also believe that the give-away of Murchison falls will not provide a sustainable solution to meet all the electricity needs that Uganda will ever require.

A few years ahead we shall have no Murchison falls and still, need more power. Apparently the decision seems a reactionary one, to manage an anticipated power crisis if that's true, but my advice is, let Uganda have a comprehensive long term planning in view of the synergies different sectors contribute to overall development.

Cabinet please I urge you to imagine and compare a future where we have another source of electricity with Murchison falls still in place to a situation where we have lost the falls and have only the dam.

Is that what we call growth? How do you then measure growth if you are looking at only what we have gained ignoring what we shall have lost in Murchison falls??

Remember we are here to build what we didn't find as opposed to destroying what we found. I am sure God who created those falls specifically in Uganda along the Nile had a reason and the reason is that it earns good foreign exchange for Uganda with no value addition needed.

Murchison Falls is a finished product, and for this matte, I urge the minister of Tourism to instead strategically think of how to market and promote the falls to the entire world as a tourism destination, a world wonder where the waters of the mighty Nile River squeeze through a passage of fewer than 7 metres radius pouring into a 40-meter depth. 

This is a wonder of creation that is so rare, so amazing and so wonderful to behold. Its beautiful scenery that just overwhelms the viewer with an appreciation of nature, beauty and above all makes one fall in love with the Pearl of Africa.

I oftentimes think Church hill was standing on top of the falls when he declared Uganda the Pearl of Africa.

If tourism is still an important sector in Uganda, then we cannot rob it of Murchison falls the only surviving falls on the River Nile in Uganda.

The writer is a conservationist and winner of David Shepard Conservation Award 2019.