Anti-hunting lobby raises concern

Anti-hunting lobby raises concern Forms a critical part of wildlife utilisation There is growing local concern over the increased pressure from the anti-hunting lobby, in particular for the well-being of rural communities. The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta expressed concern over the increasing anti-trophy hunting pressure and the general international trend that is developing away from trophy hunting.

Shifeta made these remarks at the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Cancun, Mexico.

He said that trophy hunting is an integral part of Namibia’s conservation strategy and the broader income of the country.

“It is also a lifeline for our communities as well as being a sector with huge potential for future expansion.”

According to him without hunting, wildlife will not remain a viable form of land use in rural Namibia, and may be replaced by other forms of land uses that are more damaging to ecosystems.

He said a recent study estimated that the number of financially profitable conservancies would be drastically reduced if conservancy income from hunting is eliminated.

This could trigger the decline of Namibia’s community-based approach to conservation and lead to increased levels of poverty and an increase in illegal wildlife trade and cases of poaching, said Shifeta.

He said Namibia’s utilization of wildlife is tightly regulated and controlled.

“Annual game counts and surveys are carried out to inform a strict system of quotas and permits to ensure that all harvesting and use of wildlife is done on a sustainable basis.”

According to him it is Namibia’s view that it is not enough just to conserve wildlife in isolation in protected areas but that it must be managed and utilized with the full involvement of communities and for the benefit of the people, the economy and the environment.

“This has given rise to a community-based natural resource management network of communal conservancies and community forests, now covering almost 20% of the country.”

According to Shifeta within this system of community conservation, particularly trophy hunting is the leading income source for communal conservancies.

Namibia’s most recent natural wildlife capital accounts indicated that wildlife contributed to almost 4% of the gross domestic product and that there is huge scope for this contribution to be expanded and to contribute to the achievement of a number of the Sustainable Development Goals.

ELLANIE SMIT