In her May 3, 2018 presentation titled, , Kathleen H. Fitzgerald, Vice President of Programs for East and Southern Africa, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), highlighted the challenges in conservation finance, the Uganda government led process to optimize the economic opportunities in their parks to enhance conservation and the next steps. 

Uganda supports an exceptional network of protected areas capturing diverse and unique landscapes including savannahs, tropical forests and volcanic peaks. It is one of the top ten most bio-diverse countries in the world, featuring more than half of the world’s mountain gorilla populations and over 1000 bird species. However, like many protected area authorities in Africa, the Uganda Wildlife Authority lacks the financial resources to adequately manage their protected area estate. The Giants Club, in partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation, Conservation Capital and the government of Uganda, recently identified conservation tourism opportunities in Uganda’s protected areas and hosted the first conservation and tourism investment forums in Uganda. The forum generated incredible interest in smart investment in Uganda, which will result in a substantial increase in revenue for Uganda’s protected areas.

The talk also presented examples of protected area management in other African countries, examining where shortcomings originate and how to avoid a similar situation in Uganda.

Featured Speaker

Kathleen H. Fitzgerald

Kathleen is Vice President of Programs for East and Southern Africa for AWF. She has helped AWF secure land and improve land management across the continent through easements, acquisition, leases, land use planning and the establishment of conservancies. Kathleen has worked with protected areas—government, private and community—to enhance ecological, social and financial sustainability and leads AWF’s protected area finance program. Kathleen graduated from St. Lawrence University with a major in Environmental Studies and Government and has an MS from University of Vermont.

Event Resources

Click here to view the presentation slides.

This event was hosted by The Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group as a part of its Washington DC speaker series, which aims to foster information exchange and lessons sharing among cross-sector practitioners. To participate as a featured speaker, please contact Evelyn Namvua at enamvua@abcg.org and view the Guidelines to Speakers here.

Cover Photo – Photo credit: AWF