Assessment of the contribution of local community in conservation of wildlife resources around Kidepo National Park, Kaabong district

Abstract

This assessed the contributions of the local communities in the conservation of wildlife resources around Kidepo valley national park, case study of the IK community in Kaabong district, Karamoja region. The study objectives were to assess the contributions of local communities in conservation of wildlife resources around Kidepo valley national game park; to examine the community attitude towards the conservation of Kidepo valley national park and to explore the role played by the community in conservation activities, and to examine the implications of community involvement in conservation of wildlife resources. Semi-structured questionnaires and key informant interview guides were used to collect data from the respondents. Data collected from the field was carefully edited, sorted and coded to eliminate the inconsistencies and errors that would be made during data collection. Data was later subjected to further analysis in SPSS Version 26 for quantitative data. Qualitative analysis generated key themes while qualitative data analysis helped in to generate statistical summaries from which conclusions were drawn. The study showed that 56.5% of the respondents revealed that they were very concerned about plant species loss and animal loss, 26.1% and 30.4% were concerned about plant species loss and animal loss, 17.4% and 87% were neutral about plant species loss and animal loss respectively. However, 4.3% were not concerned about animal loss, 39.1% were very concerned about natural habitat loss. All the key informants involved in the study were fully engaged in wildlife conservation. Showing that they play great roles in conservation of wildlife resources. The roles were; sensitization, engagement and coordination of the community in conservation activities. Results from the field indicated that the highest percentage of the benefits derived from conservation of natural resources is biodiversity conservation with and revenue sharing with 25.0% and 20.0% of the respondents respectively, revealing that they greatly benefit from conservation activities. However, key informant’s showed that development (36.25%) is the key benefit derived from engaging in natural resource conservation, followed by 15.5% indicating protection of cultural sites. From the conclusions drawn, the study results shows that the main internal revenue source in Uganda Wildlife Authority is tourism. Fines and research fees etc. contribute negligibly to the internal revenues. A similar break up applies to Kidepo revenues as well. Therefore, there should be improvement in tourism infrastructure and facilities and Increase and improve tourism products.