The Institute marks a year since the passing of Dr Jane Goodall with a ten-year pledge to carry her work forward in Uganda.
The Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Hon. Col. (Rtd) Tom Butime, has been named the Goodwill Brand Ambassador of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in Uganda. The invitation was extended yesterday in the Minister’s boardroom at the Ministry, during a courtesy call by JGI Uganda’s Executive Director, James Byamukama and attended by senior officials of the Ministry and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
Accepting the role, Minister Butime said the Ministry and the Institute have collaborated closely for years and pledged to work with JGI over the next decade. “We shall take on the challenge,” he said, thanking the Institute for the update on its work, for the invitation to join its Green Home family and for the conservation studies that have informed the Ministry’s critical conservation decisions. He recalled that a JGI study of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve helped the Ministry make its case to the President, H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, which is understood to have influenced the directive that UWA take over the reserve’s management. He also paid tribute to Dr Jane Goodall, who had been expected to visit Uganda again before her passing.
Seven Commitments Since 2022
Mr Byamukama traced the partnership to 17th October 2022, when the Ministry of tourism Wildlife and Antiquities and JGI agreed seven priority actions. Among the results: a signed Memorandum of Understanding; consultations on upgrading protected areas, after which three Central Forest Reserves were upgraded of the 13 first identified; an updated National Chimpanzee Conservation Action Plan; chimpanzee censuses, including in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; rapid assessments of the management of Semuliki, Mount Elgon, Mount Rwenzori, Kibale, Bwindi and Mgahinga; staff training on the Regulatory Impact Assessment process; and an initiative to establish a permaculture centre on about 50 acres to promote nature-friendly livelihoods.
A Decade of Green Hope
Marking one year since Dr Goodall’s passing, the Institute announced the Decade of Green Hope Legacy, a ten-year commitment to advance her conservation vision in Uganda and support national goals, including the Tenfold Growth Strategy. Its aims are stronger conservation systems, restored ecosystems, healthier relationships between people and nature, resilient communities and sustainable nature-based livelihoods. Mr Byamukama also recalled the naming of a baby rhino “Jane Goodall” at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary on World Rhino Day, 22nd September 2025, eight days before her passing, so that her name will live on through the rhino and her offspring.
UWA’s Commissioner for Field Operations, Charles Tumwesigye, said the Authority has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the partnership, notably in addressing human-wildlife conflict around Bugoma. He added that the Institute’s director chairs the committee that is helping UWA implement the National Chimpanzee Conservation Strategy, a task the Minister has set the Authority.
Minister Butime said he looked forward to engaging the president on actualizing his promise of over two billion shillings towards JGI’s conservation efforts in the next decade of the partnership, to the benefit of Uganda’s wildlife, forests, communities and tourism.
