Ugandan MPs want joint conservation efforts

NORTHERN PROVINCE MUSANZE — The visiting Ugandan Members Parliament, representing the committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry, yesterday visited the Volcano National Park-PNV and hailed Rwanda’s environmental conservation initiatives. The delegation of four MPs first held discussions with the Musanze district Mayor Celestin Karabayinga, and the park authorities on the operations of Rwanda’s tourism industry. In the meeting, the MPs commended the revenue sharing scheme through which the park communities get a percentage of revenue collected by the Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN). Accompanied by their Rwandan counterparts, the law makers visited Sabyinyo Community Lodge-SACOLA, inspected the park fence erected to prevent straying animals from destroying residents’ crops before addressing former poachers. Speaking to The New Times, Silvestre Bahane Niyibizi, the chairperson of the Ugandan visiting committee, said that Rwanda’s management of tourism offers many lessons to other states in the region. He observed that the trans-boundary collaboration among the countries bordering the Virunga should be promoted in order harmonise activities which will turn East Africa into a major tourist destination. Propser Uwingeri, the chief park warden, told the law makers that joint conservation efforts call for same management tools and surveillance in order to curb threats to gorillas especially. The MPs and their Rwandan counterparts in the Trade, Commerce and Industry Commission will discuss trade matters in the EAC, environment conservation, the Customs Union, and the fate of endangered indigenous groups that inhabit high altitude forests along the Rwanda-Uganda border. Ends