UWA to surround Marchison Falls National Park with electric fence
MASINDI- The Uganda Wildlife Authority [UWA] plans to construct an additional 100-kilometre electric fence surrounding the wildlife conservation areas of Murchison Falls National Park.
The Executive Director of UWA Sam Mwandha disclosed the latest development in a recent interview with the Cooperator.
Mwandha explained that the development, expected to cost Shs 5 billion, is to prevent the elephants from invading the communities, which has raged on for years causing human deaths, injuries, and destruction of crops and property.
He said the planned erecting of the electric fence will commence in the next financial year under the World Bank-funded Uganda Investing in Forests and Protected Areas for Climate-Smart Development Project.
At least 40 kilometers of trenches have been established in the three districts of Kiryandongo, Oyam and Nwoya while 40km of the electric fence has been constructed in Oyam and Nwoya.
“We have lost lives, crops, and property in the wildlife protected areas but UWA is now implementing an eclectic fence which is seen to have been more effective than other interventions,” he added.
However, he has advised the affected communities to adopt other local strategies of beekeeping along the park and also to venture into tea plantations to keep the elephants at bay in the park.
The Masindi District Chairperson Cosmus Byaruhanga has appealed to UWA to extend such intervention into the district which is persistently invaded by the elephants.
His counterpart Emmanuel Orach of Nwoya District Local Government has commended the development which he says will save more than 85,000 households in the affected areas.
Orach revealed that the revenue share of 672 million the district has recently received from UWA will support tea and coffee production among other projects being prioritised.
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