Discovery of oil in Uganda a disadvantage to tourism

Discovery of oil in Uganda a disadvantage to the tourism sector

For the past few years,Uganda has discovered various places where oil is found and this is seen as a starting point for development. However,this has led to displacement of people from the places where oil has been discovered forcing them to migrate to other new places including those that were gazetted for wildlife conservation. Some have even encroached on some national parks like Queen Elizabeth National Park threatening the life of the wild animals. Swamps have also been reclaimed as people look for accommodation space and this has greatly affected the nature and beauty of the country.Today if you visit some of the swamps which were previously birding paradises, you will be surprised to find there tall buildings, houses and roads. Escapism of the wildlife animals has increased because of the increased deforestation which has left no home for them.

To many Ugandans who are ignorant about this, they only look at the good things associated with oil forgetting that tourism is the leading industry in the country when it comes to income generation. This East African county receives over 150 visitors on a daily basis with the majority interested in game viewing and gorilla trekking. It is this reason that the country also termed as “the pearl of Africa” was ranked as the leading tourism destination in Africa. Various safaris are recorded on a daily basis in the various national parks due to the presence of a wide collection of wild animals and intern the country gets income used for developing other sectors.This is the reason why the country is most likely to get affected financially if the problem of increasing encroachment is not solved.

Though some conservationists have noticed the negative implications that the country is likely to face as a result of discovery of oil, they have nothing to do because the government has already set up its strategies aimed at exploiting its oil to the maximum. It has already invested a lot of money in the project which include compensation of the displaced people. It is therefore impossible for the government to reverse its programmes which according to the president will increase job opportunities for the local people both skilled and unskilled.

The best solution to this problem according to the officials of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is to gazette more places for wildlife conservation and also find alternative places where the displaced people can be settled.This will stop the vice of cutting down trees in the various national parks and game reserves  by the local people to set up houses.