Combatting Wildlife Crime in Uganda

The goal of this project was to reduce wildlife crime in Uganda. This was achieved by strengthening the capacity of Ugandan agencies to detect, deter and prosecute wildlife crime, working directly with the security and law-enforcement agencies, private sector companies and communities living adjacent to protected areas.

Specifically, the work by RUSI researchers enhanced the capacity of the Uganda Wildlife Authority and Financial Intelligence Authority to detect and disrupt illicit financial flows linked to wildlife crime through the provision of targeted, tailored on-the-ground mentorship, under the banner of the National Wildlife Crime Coordination Taskforce. The project also supported operationally-focused regional workshops, with the goal of providing targeted support, enhancing cooperation and allowing effective information-sharing and skills transfer.

RUSI helped the project to ‘Think and Work Politically’ by providing an ongoing political economy analysis of how power and resources are distributed and contested in the Ugandan context, and the implications of this for the proposed interventions under the broader USAID programme.

In addition, in 2021, RUSI published a detailed empirical study on the linkages between wildlife crime, money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Uganda.

The project strengthened the capacity of Ugandan law-enforcement agencies to detect and disrupt the illicit financial flows underpinning wildlife crime. Through tailored mentorship and regional workshops, it enhanced financial investigation skills, information-sharing and cooperation between key agencies.