Human lives matter too! Protect Buliisa residents from elephant threats
It is said that the escalating conflict between humans and elephants is reaching a critical level and the safety of the community members in Buliisa is being seriously compromised.
Op-Ed: Ever since the commencement of oil activities around the Murchison Falls National Park that involve the use of loud machinery, the habitat and source of livelihood of people and wildlife most especially elephants have been tampered with because of the noise driving elephants out of their natural habitat into people’s homes and gardens causing human-elephant conflict.
As a result of the disruption of the ecosystem in MFNP and Bugungu Wildlife Reserve by Total energies Uganda’s oil projects, elephants have since become hostile and attacked homesteads in the villages of Waiga, Kataleba, Kichoke and Kabolwa in the Parishes of Bugana and Kigoya in Buliisa District causing grave injuries and death.
Early this week, the media reported that Buliisa residents live in fear of elephants attacks where several people have died and others sustain injuries after being attacked by the elephants which escapes from the park due to the vibrations caused by the oil activities that include the drilling of oil wells.
Elephants are very sensitive and can feel vibrations as far as 10 km away which force them to move from the park to communities hence attacking people, causing injuries and loss of lives where as of today, 8 community members have so far lost their lives to elephant attacks.
It is said that the escalating conflict between humans and elephants is reaching a critical level and the safety of the community members in Buliisa is being seriously compromised.
In 2024 alone, elephants attacked and killed; Katurinde Bridget (21), Akumu Joyce (40), Onyeri Mungo (27), Amumpaire Benon (21), and on the 9thday of February 2025, a herd of elephants attacked and killed Eunice Kutegeka Kyabadiri Nyajangi(51) and injured her 4-year-old daughter who remains hospitalized.
Consequently, some families within the said villages have since been forced to abandon their homes, rendering them homeless and exposing them to other vagaries of life. And among these affected families, some have not been compensated.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) together with relevant stakeholders, conservationists and experts need to devise and implement long-term sustainable strategies that ensure the protection of elephants while safeguarding human lives and their livelihoods.
The oil companies must also stop the oil activities in the national park because these activities pose a significant threat to both human lives, elephants and the broader ecosystem.
By destroying critical habitats, we risk the extinction of these incredible creatures and the collapse of biodiversity.
Additionally, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) must as well ensure that the affected families are fairly compensated.
The author is Olive Atuhaire, Environmentalist
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