OPINION
The Recent media reports, including The Observer’s article, “As Forests Vanish, Chimpanzees Are Turning into Human Threat in Kagadi,” have brought national attention to a growing crisis that demands urgent action. The heartbreaking accounts of chimpanzees attacking children and families in Kagadi are a stark reminder that the relationship between people and wildlife is becoming increasingly fragile.
Sadly, Kagadi is not an isolated case.
For several years, communities in Bulisa District, particularly those living along the boundaries of Murchison Falls National Park, have endured repeated invasions by elephants that have destroyed crops, injured residents, claimed lives, and disrupted children’s education. Through its legal representation and advocacy work, Liberty Pro Bono Initiative (LPI) has documented how human-wildlife conflict has become an everyday reality for many communities across Uganda’s Albertine region.
This growing conflict should no longer be viewed solely as a conservation issue. It is increasingly becoming a human rights, environmental justice, gender equality, and child protection concern. While wildlife conservation is a national obligation, so too is the protection of the lives, dignity, livelihoods, and safety of the citizens who live alongside protected ecosystems. The question before Uganda is therefore not whether wildlife should be protected. It is how conservation and development can coexist without forcing neighboring communities to bear unacceptable risks.
Beyond Isolated Wildlife Attacks
The tragedies unfolding in Kagadi and Bulisa Districts are symptoms of broader environmental and development pressures that require honest national reflection.
In Bulisa District, communities have consistently expressed concern that the expansion of oil exploration and related infrastructure within and around Murchison Falls National Park has altered wildlife habitats and migration routes. Roads, drilling sites, oil wells and associated infrastructure inevitably affect ecosystems. Although environmental and social impact assessments are intended to identify and mitigate these risks, the recurring movement of elephants into neighboring villages raise important questions about whether existing mitigation measures are adequate.
Similarly, Kagadi District has experienced increasing pressure on forests due to population growth, land-use change, poverty and forest degradation. These pressures have been compounded by wider developments across the Albertine Graben, where displacement, resettlement and concerns over inadequate compensation associated with oil projects have left many families struggling to rebuild their lives. At the same time, migration into the region in search of employment and economic opportunities has increased demand for land and natural resources.
As forests shrink and wildlife habitats become increasingly fragmented, chimpanzees are forced to search for food beyond their natural habitats, bringing them into much closer contact with surrounding communities. The result is an increasing number of dangerous encounters that threaten both human lives and wildlife.
Women and Children Are Paying the Highest Price
The human-wildlife conflict affects the entire community; however the women and children bear its heaviest burden. Across the rural areas of Uganda, women are the primary food producers and caregivers. They cultivate gardens, collect firewood, fetch water, care for children, elderly relatives, and ensure that households survive. These responsibilities place them on the frontline of encounters with wildlife.
When elephants destroy crops, it is women who still feed their families despite losing months of hard work. When wildlife attacks occur, it is mothers who care for the injured, comfort traumatized children, and struggle to rebuild shattered households. The emotional burden carried by these women is immeasurable.
The recent reports of chimpanzees attacking infants and young children are particularly devastating. No parent should ever have to fear that a child may be attacked while playing near home or walking to school because wildlife has been forced into human settlements. The pain experienced by a mother whose two-month-old baby is snatched from her arms by a chimpanzee is impossible to comprehend. The psychological trauma of burying a child under such circumstances is something that will remain with her for the rest of her life. Equally heartbreaking is the experience of a mother losing her five-month-old baby while simply cultivating food to feed her family. These are not merely wildlife incidents; they are lifelong human tragedies that leave deep emotional scars on families and entire communities.
Children are also increasingly being denied their right to education. In Bulisa district, communities have repeatedly reported that fear of elephant attacks has disrupted school attendance. In some instances, schools have temporarily closed because elephants were roaming nearby. Kabwoya Primary School, for example, was once forced to suspend learning because of the presence of elephants around the school. Where parents perceive the journey to school as unsafe, many children simply remain at home.
Girls often suffer the greatest long-term consequences. Interrupted education increases the risks of school dropout, early marriage, teenage pregnancy and greater domestic responsibilities, reinforcing cycles of poverty and inequality.
This is why the current crisis must be understood not only as a conservation issue but also as a matter of women’s rights and children’s rights.
Conservation and Human Rights Must Go Together
Uganda has every reason to protect its wildlife and human life. Our biodiversity is globally recognized and contributes significantly to tourism, ecological stability and national development. Conservation is therefore not optional. However, conservation cannot succeed if neighboring communities increasingly come to perceive wildlife as a threat to their survival.
The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995 (As amended) guarantees every person a right to life, human dignity and a clean and healthy environment. It recognizes the special protection due to women and obliges the State to safeguard the welfare of children.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has an important statutory responsibility under the Uganda Wildlife Act, 2019 to conserve wildlife while preventing and managing human-wildlife conflict and protecting communities living alongside protected areas. The law also provides for compensation where protected wildlife causes death, injury or damage to property.
Uganda has also committed itself under international and regional human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights—to protect women and children from preventable harm.
These legal obligations remind us that wildlife conservation and human rights are not competing objectives. They are complementary responsibilities that must be pursued together.
What Must Be Done
The growing human-wildlife conflict requires urgent, coordinated and long-term action in these affected areas. First, the Uganda Wildlife Authority should strengthen measures to prevent elephants and chimpanzees from entering the neighboring communities through effective wildlife barriers, restoration of wildlife corridors, early warning systems and well-equipped rapid response teams capable of responding immediately whenever wildlife enters populated areas.
Second, the government agencies responsible for environmental management, wildlife conservation and petroleum development should jointly undertake an independent assessment of the cumulative impacts of oil and gas activities on wildlife movement, habitat connectivity and community safety. The findings should inform stronger mitigation measures within environmentally sensitive areas.
Third, institutions responsible for land acquisition and resettlement should ensure that affected communities receive timely, fair, adequate compensation and meaningful support to rebuild sustainable livelihoods. Addressing poverty and land insecurity is essential to reducing pressure on forests and wildlife habitats.
Fourth, the compensation for victims of wildlife attacks should be timely, transparent and easily accessible, particularly for families who have suffered death, injury or destruction of property.
Fifth, women must be placed at the center of human-wildlife conflict management. Their experiences, knowledge and priorities should shape conservation planning, community awareness programs and local response mechanisms. Policies that ignore women’s unique roles and vulnerabilities will not produce sustainable solutions.
Finally, conservation cannot be left to the Uganda Wildlife Authority alone. Addressing human-wildlife conflict requires coordinated action by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the National Environment Management Authority, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, local governments, conservation organizations, civil society organizations and private sector actors operating in environmentally sensitive areas.
A Shared Responsibility
Uganda stands at an important crossroads. As the country pursues economic development through large-scale infrastructure and extractive industries, it must also safeguard the ecosystems that sustain both wildlife and human life. Development, conservation and human rights should reinforce one another, not exist in conflict. The true measure of successful conservation is not simply the number of animals protected. It is whether wildlife and neighboring communities can coexist safely, peacefully and with dignity. Protecting wildlife should never require a mother to choose between cultivating food and risking her life. Nor should any family have to bury a child because wildlife has been driven into human settlements by environmental degradation and unsustainable development.
Uganda possesses both the legal framework and the institutional capacity to protect its extraordinary wildlife heritage while safeguarding the women, children and communities who have lived alongside these ecosystems for generations. The time has come to ensure that conservation protects not only wildlife, but also the people who share the landscape with it.
By Liberty Pro Bono Initiative (LPI)
Email: libertyprobonoinitiative@gmail.com
