GEORGE OWOYESIGIRE ‘ Since 2014 we’ve generated more than 1,000kg of honey’

On Nov 15, Ugandan ranger Scot Guma was killed by elephants while responding to calls from a community struggling with animals crossing over from Murchison Falls National Park. It’s a sad story which could become more common across Africa as human settlements expand and wilderness habitats decline – and one of the biggest conundrums facing conservationists such as George Owoyesigire, Uganda Wildlife Authority’s deputy director for community conservation.

“We had about six million people in 1959. Today we are about 42 million,” he explains. “People have invaded some of the forested areas and wetlands, and we estimate about 50 per cent of Uganda’s wildlife now lives outside protected areas.”

In the past few years, elephants have accounted for more than 70 per cent of complaints received by the wildlife authority. But rather than resort to culling or expensive programmes to shift troublesome animals elsewhere, Owoyesigire has created a novel method to help communities and wildlife harmoniously coexist.

“The African honeybee has been documented to be very hostile and aggressive,” says Owoyesigire, who spearheaded a project to establish 400 productive beehives along the boundary of Kibale National Park. “The bees sting the softer parts of the elephant around the trunk, the eyes and the ears, causing temporary swelling and pain.”

As a result, elephants have steered clear of the defensive barrier, limiting crop raids. But the scheme has a threefold impact; it is also helping to increase numbers of the African honeybee, endangered by agrochemicals, and has the potential to boost local economies through the sale of honey.

“Since 2014, we’ve generated more than 1,000kg of honey; that’s about two million Uganda shillings,” the conservationist proudly states.

A career spent working with institutions such as the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the National Forestry Authority and the Jane Goodall Institute, led Owoyesigire to realise communities lay at the core of African conservation. “Poverty is one of the principal causes of environmental degradation, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade,” he says. “Unless people strike a balance between the cost and the benefits, they won’t want to be helping wildlife.”

George Owoyesigire was shortlisted for this year’s Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa

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