Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) Executive Director James Musinguzi said the center has been awarded the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria (Waza) Award.
This recognition comes after excelling in using biodiversity-related educational materials supporting the United Nations Decade for Biodiversity, 2011–2020. The decade for biodiversity aims at making people aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably.
UWEC, formerly and popularly known as Entebbe Zoo, has been awarded the Waza Award by the Waza body which combines all zoos and aquariums in the world. The award was given to Entebbe Zoo at the recently concluded Waza Annual General Meeting and conference in the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Musinguzi said the zoo is the only one in Africa that was awarded for effectively using Uganda’s eco-system approach.
Waza, an official partner of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), set out a project to produce conservation education communication materials involving posters, Mobile App, CDs for raising awareness about biodiversity in zoo and aquarium visitors. “Entebbe Zoo won the Biodiversity award in Africa for using the tools innovatively during Miss Tourism Uganda promotion in video halls, at animal exhibits in Entebbe Zoo, at the entrance of the Zoo, local television and workshops,” Mr. Musinguzi adds.
This is another award. Entebbe Zoo has also won an award from the Pan-African Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Paaza) in March as best zoo in East, Central and West Africa.
Waza, in collaboration with national and regional zoo and aquarium associations, showed that annually, more than 700 million people visit zoos and aquariums worldwide, and are thus potentially exposed to environmental education which inspires people to care about nature by seeing live animals.
