Uganda, DR Congo, and Rwanda, Agree On A Five-Year Virunga tactical Plan

A five-year cooperative strategic plan between Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda was signed on Thursday with the intention of promoting the Virunga massif and safeguarding gorillas.

Representatives from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Rwanda Development Board (RDB), and Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) signed the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC).

The three nations also decided to cooperate in order to enhance the methods of earning income from tourism and distribute the advantages. According to Dr. Andrew Seguya, a Uganda Wildlife Authority officer, the agreement will support the preservation and conservation of the endangered mountain gorillas. In Rwanda and Uganda, gorilla safaris are a significant source of revenue for the travel industries.

Additionally, according to Dr. Seguya, the new strategic plan emphasizes advertising as a means of growing the tourism industry in the area. The collaboration, he continued, will guarantee the gorillas’ and other creatures’ existence in the area.

In Virunga National Park, gorillas cross borders to migrate from one country to another. Thus, we must make sure that their protection is ensured everywhere, according to Seguya. The agreement comes after the last one, which was signed ten years ago and, in Seguya’s opinion, did not sufficiently address the difficulties in the field of gorilla preservation in the area.

The action will boost tourism in the Greater Virunga Mountains, according to Rica Rwigamba, chairman of the Rwanda Development Board’s Tourism and Conservation Department, who praised the decision.

“We wish to support the people residing in the Virunga mountain range. The goal of the new framework is to make life better for those who reside in the park’s surrounding area. We applaud additional development initiatives in the area, Rwigamba stated.

The New Times was informed by Dr. Cosma Wilungula, Director General of the ICCN, that the collaboration will also aid in resolving conflicts between the three nations. The action demonstrates how our shared resource—mountain gorillas—kept us united as a family by nature. There is nowhere else in the world like this special, potent natural resource, according to Wilungula.

He claimed that the gorilla population increased from about 600 to about 800 during the course of the previous ten years of strategy.

Despite efforts to diversify the offerings and encourage trips to other national parks and game reserves, gorilla tourism in Uganda and Rwanda continues to be the most popular and lucrative kind of tourism in both nations. Contrarily, Congo is eager to finally benefit from peace when all order is eventually restored because it has not been able to fully explore the potential of gorilla tracking tourism and related activities due to strife in the country’s east over the past few decades. With any luck, this new approach will significantly increase gorilla tourism in each of these nations.