Do you want to invest in Uganda’s natural protected areas? The Government of the Republic of Uganda has recognized the increasing opportunity for responsible investment to support the protection and management of natural assets by unlocking financing and partnerships through inviting conservation-motivated investors to help build a ‘nature-based economy’.
According to a statement sent to Business Focus by Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), this move seeks to rehabilitate and manage Uganda’s network of Protected Areas while delivering economic growth, generating employment and ensuring the survival of the country’s wildlife-important landscapes over the long term.
Consequently, President Yoweri Museveni is set to host the Giants Club’s first Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum on 6th October 2017 in Entebbe to launch an exciting initiative and showcase identified investment sites for investors to take up in the protected/ conservation areas.
The forum aims to “bring to the market an exclusive initial offering of ‘investment ready’ sites in Protected Areas, identified for tourism and other enterprise as well as co-management opportunities, selected and developed by sector specialists in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Uganda.”
UIA says the forum will also be used to “launch and promote a tailored framework for Public-Private Partnerships in Protected Area management, to enable structuring a series of new agreements for co-management of appropriate areas.”
It also aims to present a series of incentives and enabling structures to support private sector investment in tourism and other enterprises in Protected Areas, with a new Facilitation Unit under the Uganda Investment Authority umbrella to support investors in navigating regulatory and investment requirements.
It will also be used to “gather together commercial and non-commercial investors, government and other stakeholders to create meaningful partnerships and to develop new business models that will support conservation management in Protected Areas.”
