Fundraising for wildlife protection The Ministry of Environment and Tourism last week held its first fundraising event in an effort to raise money for protecting the country's wildlife. Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta said the government was concerned about poaching in Namibia and had spent millions on anti-poaching efforts.
More than 500 members of the National Defence Force, the police and the ministry's own rangers have been deployed in poaching hotspots such as the Etosha and Bwabwata national parks and the Kunene Region.
Shifeta expressed shock over the frequency of poaching incidents, particularly of elephants and rhino.
“These unprecedented levels of illegal hunting are on the increase across Africa and it is driven by organised criminal syndicates who are involved in trafficking of wildlife products using very complex networks to feed illegal foreign markets,” he said.
Shifeta said an all-out war against poaching should be declared.
“I would like to seriously warn all those who are involved to stop these primitive and barbaric acts forthwith,” he said.
Last year, 260 cases of elephant and rhino poaching, as well as illegal possession and export of horns and ivory, were reported.
Shifeta said although significant strides had been made in arresting 222 perpetrators of wildlife crime, the same could not be said of the prosecution of such crimes.
Many cases still pending
Shifeta said the Nature Conservation Amendment Bill was tabled in Parliament recently, seeking to increase penalties for poaching and smuggling of rhino and elephant products.
“The significantly higher punishment that is proposed for rhino and elephant poaching and trafficking is a preventive measure aimed to deter the would-be poachers and smugglers from committing such crimes.”
He said the passing of the bill, and another one on trafficking that was coming soon, would send a clear message of Namibia's collective resolve to deal a decisive blow to the scourge of poaching.
According to him illegal wildlife crime is more than just a conservation issue, since it disrupts development by depriving the country of billions of dollars worth of natural resources. It is also driving many threatened species to extinction.
“Namibia has not seen this level of poaching since independence in 1990,” the minister said.
He said the black rhino population was on the brink of extinction in the 1980s, but today Namibia had the largest population of black rhino in the world.
However, these significant achievements are being undermined by poaching, as Namibia lost nine rhinos in 2013, 56 in 2014, 95 in 2015, 59 in 2016 and two so far this year.
The elephant population has increased from 7 600 in 1995 to 22 000 at present.
However, Namibia lost 78 elephants in 2014, 49 in 2015, 101 last year, and one so far this year.
The ministry has not yet announced how much money was raised at the event.
ELLANIE SMIT