The Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Hon. Tom R. Butime, has gazetted Temporary Management Measures for Bugoma, Echuya and Bukaleba Central Forest Reserves, placing the three forests under the temporary management of Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Issued under Section 28 of the Uganda Wildlife Act, Cap. 315, the measures will remain in force for six months pending Parliament’s declaration of the three Central Forest Reserves as Wildlife Conservation Areas.
The gazetted measures mandate UWA to take over the management and protection of the reserves by deploying staff, securing boundaries, preventing encroachment and illegal resource use, restoring degraded areas, strengthening law enforcement, promoting research and tourism, conducting community sensitisation, and working with relevant government agencies to complete the gazettement process.
The UWA Executive Director Dr. James Musinguzi welcomed the development, saying it provides the legal framework for the Authority to safeguard the three ecologically important forests while the process of their declaration as Wildlife Conservation Areas is finalized.
UWA calls upon local communities, leaders and all stakeholders to cooperate with the Authority in implementing the Temporary Management Measures to ensure the long-term conservation of these vital forest ecosystems.
