A multi-stakeholder engagement convened by the National Wildlife Crime Coordination Task Force in June 2025 has adopted a set of resolutions aimed at halting the destruction of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, one of Uganda's most important chimpanzee habitats and a critical biodiversity corridor in the Bunyoro landscape.
The engagement brought together Task Force member institutions, local governments, cultural and community leaders, conservation organisations and the media. Participants reviewed evidence of continued encroachment, illegal logging and conversion within the reserve, and the enforcement actions taken to date, including joint patrols that have recovered illegal timber and destroyed charcoal kilns operating inside the forest.
The adopted resolutions include: intensified and sustained joint enforcement patrols in and around the reserve; expedited prosecution of arrested encroachers and illegal loggers; strengthened boundary demarcation; and a proposal to expand Task Force membership to include the Attorney General's Chambers, the Ministry of Lands and the Judiciary, whose mandates are central to resolving the land questions that fuel encroachment.
The Task Force will track implementation of the resolutions through its quarterly coordination meetings and report progress publicly.
