Tourism accounts for about 10% of GDP of each EAC partner states, 7% of employment, and about 17% of export earnings. It is also estimated that 70% of tourism in the East Africa region is dependent on wildlife. Therefore, factors such as poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, expansion of agricultural activities and human-wildlife conflict continue to threaten wildlife conservation efforts.
Many of East Africa’s wildlife habitats exist across national boundaries and hence require collaboration to address the challenges of the conservation of wildlife and habitats they depend on. The overall objective of the Policy is to promote coordinated conservation and sustainable management of wildlife resources for posterity and social economic growth of the region.