Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta has said African countries’ voices should be heard when it comes to conservation matters, stressing that the decision of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to ban the international trade of ivory will not help conservation.
In his speech availed to the media on Wednesday, Shifeta while addressing the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Biodiversity, Hunting, Countryside Intergroup in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday said that individual countries banning hunting, imports of trophies or burning of stockpiles of trophies will not help conservation. He said such measures will merely prove to be detrimental to conservation and livelihoods of rural communities.
Shifeta said Africa is immensely rich in biodiversity and it supports the largest intact assemblages of large mammals, which roam freely in many countries, noting that the matter of hunting, conservation and livelihoods is particularly dear to Namibia and the issue as to whether voices from Africa are being heard on this matter is particularly pertinent.
“We need the African voice to be heard loud and clear. It is my sincere hope that countries intending to institute any prohibitions and restrictions on the import of trophies will consult the source countries and really consider the unintended consequences their actions may cause,” he noted.
Most African countries, including Namibia, he said suffered large scale exterminations of their wildlife due to illegal hunting in the colonial era and discriminatory colonial laws, however, most countries have realigned their policies and laws that include sustainability of all natural resources.
He noted that Namibia has realigned its legislation and policies to make provision for rural communities and private landowners to manage their wildlife populations sustainably and derive financial and other benefits from these natural resources.
Shifeta further informed the gathering that Namibia has 86 registered communal conservancies, while the populations of high value and endangered wildlife such as elephants, lions, black rhinoceros, leopard and cheetah have increased in number and expanded their range into areas where they were previously eradicated.
He added that the elephant population has grown from about 7 000 individuals in 1995 to about 24 000 based on the latest estimates.
“The revenue generated from conservation hunting and tourism activities in Namibia has been successfully reinvested into the maintenance of park infrastructures, human-wildlife conflict mitigation as well as other projects benefiting the welfare of citizens such as the construction of clinics, schools, paying university tuition fees for students from these communities,” he noted.
Shifeta also said communal conservancies have opened up livelihood opportunities for communities to benefit from both the consumptive and non-consumptive use of wildlife, noting that joint venture tourism accounted for 49 per cent of all revenue generated by communal conservancies while conservation hunting accounted for 33 per cent.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
