Uganda Expands Wildlife and Timber Forensics Laboratory to Strengthen Conservation Prosecutions
Uganda has officially commissioned an expanded Wildlife and Timber Forensics Laboratory at the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre in Entebbe, marking a significant step forward in the country's efforts to prosecute wildlife and illegal timber trafficking through science-based evidence. Established initially in 2019 as a pilot initiative by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in partnership with the TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the facility has grown into a national and regional hub for forensic analysis. Funded by the European Union and supported by Denmark, its mandate has now been expanded to include timber forensics, bringing illegal logging within the same evidentiary framework used in wildlife crime prosecutions. The laboratory uses DNA profiling, species identification, and barcoding techniques to produce court-admissible evidence linking seized specimens to specific species, locations, and crime scenes.
The expansion addresses a longstanding gap in Uganda's wildlife justice system, where a conviction rate of just 37% between 2017 and 2021 highlighted the difficulty of building conclusive cases without forensic support. Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu of the Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court - Africa's first specialised wildlife court, established in 2017 - described the laboratory as critical to the criminal justice system's ability to hold offenders accountable. Uganda's forest cover has declined from 24% in 1990 to approximately 13% in 2025, with estimates suggesting up to 80% of the country's timber trade may be linked to illegal practices. UWA Executive Director James Musinguzi noted that the laboratory has already begun transforming how wildlife crime is investigated and prosecuted, with the number of successful prosecutions rising as forensic evidence increasingly connects suspects to crime scenes.
Source: The Independent