By Sanya Ivan Elvis
Op_Ed
As the world celebrates elephants on World Elephant Day, families in Buliisa District continue to mourn loved ones killed in encounters with wildlife.
Elephants are magnificent animals that play an indispensable role in maintaining ecosystems. They deserve protection. However, the celebration of wildlife conservation must not silence the suffering of communities living along the boundaries of Murchison Falls National Park.
For many residents of Buliisa, encounters with elephants are no longer rare. Stray elephants and buffaloes have killed and injured people, destroyed crops, disrupted children’s education and left families living in constant fear. Conservation cannot be considered successful when neighbouring communities are forced to pay for it with their lives and livelihoods.
A growing human cost
In June 2023, 42-year-old Jennet Berupamungu, a resident of Waiga Village, was killed by an elephant while collecting firewood near her home. She was reportedly a mother of seven.
Earlier that year, 75-year-old Mogo Ungyera was killed when an elephant entered the tobacco nursery bed where he was working. Two other people sustained serious injuries and were admitted to Buliisa General Hospital.
In February 2025, another tragedy struck when 53-year-old Eunice Kutegeka was killed by an elephant while collecting firewood. Her four-year-old grandson, who was accompanying her, sustained critical injuries.
These were not isolated incidents. Media reports indicate that since 2022, at least 18 people have been killed by elephants and buffaloes in Buliisa District, while many others have been injured. Communities have also suffered repeated destruction of cassava, maize, beans, bananas, sweet potatoes and other crops on which their survival depends.
Behind every statistic is a family that has lost a parent, child or breadwinner. For those who survive, the physical injuries, psychological trauma and destruction of livelihoods can last for years.
Women and children bear the heaviest burden
Although human–wildlife conflict affects entire communities, its consequences are not experienced equally.
Women in rural communities are often responsible for cultivating food, collecting firewood, fetching water and caring for children. These daily responsibilities place them at greater risk of encountering wildlife. When elephants destroy crops, women must still find ways to feed their families despite losing months of labour and their primary source of food and income.
Children’s education is also being disrupted. In some affected areas of Buliisa, fear of attacks has prevented children from attending school safely. Some schools have reportedly experienced interruptions when elephants roam nearby.
Girls face particular risks when their education is disrupted. Prolonged absence from school can increase their vulnerability to early marriage, teenage pregnancy, exploitation and permanent school dropout.
Human–wildlife conflict must therefore be understood not only as a conservation challenge but also as a human rights, gender equality, child-protection and social-justice concern.
Communities are still waiting for adequate protection
The Uganda Wildlife Authority has undertaken measures intended to reduce human–wildlife conflict, including the installation of electric fencing around parts of Murchison Falls National Park and the deployment of wildlife personnel. These interventions are important, but affected communities continue to report serious gaps in protection.
Residents of villages such as Waiga, Kataleba, Kichoke and Kabolwa continue to live in fear of wildlife entering their homes and gardens. Communities have repeatedly called for adequate fencing, prompt responses when animals stray from the park and fair compensation for deaths, injuries and destroyed property.
In August 2022, more than 1,000 residents reportedly signed a petition calling upon the Uganda Wildlife Authority to erect electric fencing and take effective steps to protect communities from recurring wildlife attacks. Years later, many residents still believe that the measures in place are insufficient.
Protection cannot be measured only by the number of kilometres of fencing installed. It must be measured by whether children can walk to school safely, women can collect firewood without risking their lives and farmers can cultivate their land without losing an entire harvest overnight.
The impact of oil development must be independently assessed
The expansion of oil and gas infrastructure within and around the Murchison Falls landscape has raised serious questions about its cumulative effects on wildlife habitats, migration routes and neighbouring communities.
Road construction, drilling operations, vehicle movements, machinery, noise and other forms of industrial activity can place pressure on sensitive ecosystems. Communities, conservation organisations and environmental advocates have expressed concern that these activities may be contributing to changes in wildlife movement and behaviour.
Oil companies and government authorities have maintained that mitigation measures are being implemented and that petroleum activities have limited effects on wildlife. However, the growing frequency and severity of reported human–wildlife encounters make an independent and transparent assessment necessary.
Such an assessment should examine the cumulative effects of oil exploration and production, road construction, habitat fragmentation and other developments on elephant movement and community safety. Its findings should be publicly accessible and used to strengthen both wildlife protection and community safeguards.
Conservation and human rights must reinforce each other
Uganda’s Constitution protects the rights to life, human dignity and a clean and healthy environment. Wildlife conservation must be implemented consistently with these protections.
Communities living beside protected areas should not be treated as obstacles to conservation. They are essential partners whose knowledge, experiences and participation can help create sustainable solutions. Conservation policies designed without meaningful community involvement risk deepening resentment and weakening public support for wildlife protection.
When residents repeatedly lose relatives, crops and property without receiving adequate protection or timely compensation, they may begin to view wildlife as a threat rather than a shared national heritage. That outcome would harm both people and conservation.
What must be done
This World Elephant Day, the Government of Uganda, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, petroleum-sector institutions and companies operating within the Albertine region should commit to:
Strengthening preventive measures: Extend and maintain effective electric fencing, protect wildlife corridors, introduce reliable early-warning systems and establish properly equipped rapid-response teams.
Providing fair and timely compensation: Families that lose loved ones, suffer injuries or experience destruction of crops and property should receive accessible, adequate and timely compensation.
Conducting an independent environmental assessment: The cumulative effects of oil and gas activities on wildlife habitats, animal movements and community safety should be independently investigated and publicly reported.
Prioritising women and children: Prevention, response and compensation programmes should recognise the disproportionate risks and burdens faced by women, girls and children.
Placing communities at the centre of conservation: Residents, particularly women, should participate meaningfully in decisions concerning wildlife management, fencing, compensation and development activities affecting their land and safety.
Improving accountability and transparency: Responsible institutions should regularly publish information on wildlife attacks, responses, compensation claims and measures being taken to prevent further loss of life.
The true measure of conservation
Protecting elephants and protecting people are not competing objectives. Uganda can and must do both.
No mother should have to choose between collecting firewood for her family and risking her life. No farmer should lose an entire season’s harvest without support. No child should abandon school because elephants roam along the route to the classroom. No family should have to bury a loved one and then struggle alone with the consequences.
On World Elephant Day, we celebrate the beauty, intelligence and ecological importance of elephants. But we must also remember the communities living beside protected areas and bearing the heaviest cost of conservation failures.
The true measure of conservation is not only whether wildlife survives. It is whether people and wildlife can coexist safely, fairly and with dignity.
The author, Sanya Ivan Elvis, is an associate at Liberty Pro Bono Initiative (LPI)
