Human-wildlife conflict a priorityDespite budgetary challenges, the environment ministry says it is working hard to mitigate escalating conflict between animals and communities. Ministry says they are doing all they can Regional consultations for input on the revised national policy on human wildlife conflict which commenced on 15 September are underway.The government has received flak of late on the current legislation that is out-dated with very low rates of compensation for damage inflicted by wildlife, as well as what has been described in particular by communities in the Kunene and Zambezi regions, as a slow response by authorities.
At the consultations in Kunene, the director of parks and wildlife management in the environment ministry for Kunene, Colgar Sikopo told Nampa the National Policy on Human Wildlife Conflict of 2009 contains provisions that need to be addressed as soon as possible.
“Incidents reported over the years led to gaps in the policy, which if addressed will put us in a position to have the appropriate directives in place,” he said at Opuwo.
Sikopo said input is needed from all stakeholders to determine what people see as the appropriate measures to be implemented.
The consultations will be completed by the end of October, after which feedback will be forwarded to Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta, who will present it during the national workshop on HWC scheduled to take place in November.
Also speaking to this news agency on Friday was the ministry’s deputy director for the north-western regions, Christopher Munwela, who said issues at the upcoming conference will vary from region to region as different forms of conflict are experienced in each region.
“In order for us to address the problems we need to be specific and not nationalise the conflicts,” Munwela said.
Some of the concerns raised by farmers at the Opuwo meeting were that they want the ministry to be represented in all constituencies so it can be more easily accessible.
Others suggested that a ministry official must be on duty at all times, as some incidents of this nature occur during the weekend when their offices are not operational. This leads to communities having to take action themselves.
There was also a suggestion that a toll-free number be established for farmers to report cases of conflict.
The farmers could however not agree on how the animals involved in such conflict should be dealt with.
Some felt the animal should be killed on the spot if found attacking livestock or a human being or destroying crops, while others felt it should be availed for trophy hunting and the money made from the trophy hunting be given to conservancies.
The Kunene has been under pressure from roaming lions for some time now, exacerbated also by the drought conditions experienced across the country and in the lions’ rangeland.
Environment minister, Pohamba Shifeta, in a statement released late Tuesday, urged communities to “not take the law into their own hands by shooting or hunting problem-causing animals before the approval of the ministry. Our officials have been directed to be on alert 24/7 to attend to cases of human wildlife conflict despite our financial constraints.”
Lion predation on livestock in the north-west of the country remains problematic not only due to the wildlife conflict element, but also the global view of the uniqueness of the animals that are described as “desert lions”. As such, they have captured the global community’s imagination even though the chairperson of the African Lion Working Group of the International Union for Conservation, Sarel van der Merwe, is on record as saying that there is no such species.
“The desert lion does not exist as a separate species of African lion. All African lions have been shown to be almost independent of drinking water and can survive in harsh environments,” Van der Merwe said.
Shifeta asked communities to be patient and said every effort is being made to limit conflict with these animals, also those migrating westwards from Etosha.
“A great effort is made to keep every pride collared and monitored and to erect predator-proof enclosures where livestock can be kept overnight. However, more resources are need for this,” he said.
In Zambezi, communities suffer conflicts with elephants which raid their crops but the problem is also widespread in Kunene.
“We have collared four elephants in the Kamanjab-Fransfontein area in collaboration with the private sector. Farmers further contributed two collars which will shortly be placed on elephants to ensure that every main herd is collared to monitor their movements,” he added.
Shifeta announced that his ministry will conduct and elephant census in the northwest including the Kamanjab area, Kunene and the elephant ranges in Erongo and Omusati so as to better understand the distribution of these animals and to inform a management plan for elephants in Namibia. No further details were provided on when this would take place.
Thus, the minister said, contrary to claims that the ministry is not attending to cases of conflict, the ministry has in fact invested resources and continues to do so, to mitigate the impact of human wildlife conflict.
“We recognise that such conflicts have always existed where people and wildlife coexist and will continue to be so in the future. This means that it will not be possible to eradicate all conflicts, but that it has to be managed in the most effective and efficient way.”
STAFF REPORTER