The East African Community (EAC) relies greatly on the abundance and diversity of wildlife in the region. Wildlife is part of the tourism industry, which boosts economic growth, supports foreign exchange earnings, and creates jobs.

Conversely, wildlife conservation largely depends on tourism revenue. Yet travel restrictions and other measures that have been put in place to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a loss of this revenue, with far-reaching implications for wildlife conservation in East Africa.

Join the EAC in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) for a webinar on June 23 from 3-5pm EAT.

The webinar will discuss:
i) The impact of COVID-19 on wildlife conservation in the region.
ii) Plausible recovery measures for the region’s tourism and wildlife sectors.

The EAC Secretariat and partner states’ wildlife conservation authorities will lead discussions with remarks from USAID and IUCN. Panelists will be as follows:

‣ Hon. Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary General Productive and Social Sectors, East African Community (EAC)
‣ Brig. (Rtd.) John Waweru, Director General Kenya Wildlife Service, Republic of Kenya
‣ Eugene Mutangana, Conservation Management Expert Rwanda Development Board, Republic of Rwanda
‣ Sam Mwandha, Executive Director Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Republic of Uganda

Closing remarks by:
‣ Luther Anukur, Regional Director, Eastern and Southern Africa, IUCN
‣ Aurelia Micko, Environment Office Director USAID/KEA

Moderated by Kiundu Waweru, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network