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Uganda wildlife under threat
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E-mail CNTV, July 4, 2012
The latest red list by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shows that the number of endangered species is increasing again. African lions are in danger of disappearing altogether due to disease and habitat encroachment. Today's modern world subjects wildlife to many dangers. Africa remains to be one of the most threatened regions in the world. Allan Cheror has this report from Uganda.
Uganda's wildlife is facing a threat of extinction mainly due to climate change and human encroachment in wildlife reserves for settlement and farming activities. Ostriches, lions and zebras are the main species facing the extinction threat. The lion population has declined by 50 percent due to climate change and over population in areas surrounding the parks. Human population growth continues to take its stall on wildlife habitats. People living near wildlife reserves such as Queen Elizabeth, Mt Rwenzori, Mt Elgon and East Madi national parks are increasingly encroaching on wildlife reserves, particularly forests, bush land and wetlands.
Amos Wekesa, Chairman of Uganda Tourisim Board Sot, said, "For Uganda we have one of the top three fastest growing populations in the world. So in a country where we are only 0.18 percent of the total land mass in the world, having a population of 34 million now, It means the need for wildlife meat or the trees that are part of the habitat of the wildlife are actually been affected."
According to the Uganda Wildlife Authority breeding areas for animals have been hindered due to population pressure as a result of climate and people have resorted to settling in game reserve areas thus scaring away animals and a reduction in wildlife reproduction. Increase in global temperatures caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, is also causing Africa's highest mountains to lose their ice cover.
The Rwenzori mountain range in Uganda is rapidly melting its glaciers, causing surging floods to destroy wildlife habitats on its slopes. It is one of the country's main tourist attractions and holds the highest populations of wildlife under threat.
Nelson Guma, Senior Warden Ruwenzori Mountains Sot, said, "The most noticeable effect of climate change is the melting of the glaciers. The glaciers have shrunk from 7.5 square kilometres a hundred years ago to now less than one square kilometre. Now, when you do not have the glaciers then you have consequences like flash floods because the precipitation is not frozen by glaciers,"
But although the wildlife populations are yet to reach the levels of the 1960s and early 1970s, statistics indicate that some animals are thriving, the buffalo population, for example, has increased in the last few years, though is still far from the population in the 1960s.
Having been voted the best tourism location for the year 2012 by the lonely planet magazine Uganda might soon lose this title due to climate change and encroachment.
