July 24, 2023
Crest tanks Limited has donated ten dustbins to Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC), commonly referred to as Entebbe Zoo, to boast the Centre’s Waste Management program.
Handing over the trash bins worth 5Million Uganda Shillings to the UWEC Executive Director, Dr. James Musinguzi, the General Manager Crest Tanks Limited Ajay Jain said that their vision is to Enhance people’s lives by enabling every household to access clean water, food production security, renewable energy and practice safe sanitation and thus they saw it important to extend a hand to the Centre whose core mandate is to educate the masses about conservation.
“UWEC teachesthe best conservation practices, especially to the young generation and one of
the best practice is waste management to preserve the environment which is a habitat for wildlife – So we initiate partnerships to push this campaign of waste management and attract schools to these practices”. Explained Jain
Dr. JamesMusinguzi lauded Crest tanks limited for this gesture. which he said came in timely as the Centre deepens its roots into Green tourism, with proper waste management top on the agenda in eliminating the effects of tourism to the
environment.
The Centre receives over 400,000 visitors annually and on a daily basis close to 1000 visitors, who travel with packed food and plastic sodas and water, which in many cases turn out to be waste at the destination – and this calls for proper planning to support sustainable tourism at the Centre.
The months between June – October are the Centre’s peak seasons where mainly schools and institutions visit for the different Conservation Education program like; thematic guided tours for Biology and Geography, research and internship and for fun at the same time, before they finally settle for their National Examinations that normally run between October – November
“In addition to the waste management program, as a vehicle to effect Green tourism, this financial year
we are set to begin plans of opening up other sister zoos in other parts of the country starting with Mbale, to reduce on the high numbers of schools coming to the Centre – this will cut on the pressure alongside other advantages” Musinguzi added.
During thisyear’s Pearl Of Africa Tourism Expo (POATE) that brought different stakeholders beyond the African continent at the Common Wealth Resort Hotel in Munyonyo, Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Tourism Board Lilly Ajarova noted that, Tourism is a threat to the environment if not well managed, and thus Called on all players in the tourism sector to prioritize environmental protection, owing to the fact that Uganda’s tourism is mainly nature-based.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as tourism that takes into full account its current and future economic, social, and environmental impact, addressing the needs of visitors, industry players, the
environment, and host communities.