Zimbabwe will attend an Elephant Summit, courtesy of the Botswana Government, to discuss the adoption of a common position in the Southern African region, with to Botswana’s proposition to lift the ban on elephant hunting ahead of the CITES meting later this monththe The conference will run from 3 – 7 May, 2019
The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the global treaty that regulates wildlife trade, holds its Conference of the Parties (CoP18) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 23 May to 3 June 2019.
Addressing Ngamiland community trusts in Mau recently Botswana Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism Mr Kitso Mokaila expressed optimism that the Elephant Summit will assist government to refine its decision on the hunting ban.
The summit, expected to be graced by six heads of state, in its culmination, whose countries are said to have high elephant populations, including Namibia and Zambia, who together with Botswana and Zimbabwe form the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TCA).
The 520,000 square-kilometer (200,773 square-mile) expanse includes swamp, savannah and riverine habitat in Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe and is twice the size of the UK. An estimated 220,000 elephants live in the area,and the largest herd, about 130 000 are in Botswana which the government now says is now unmanageable due to the rise of human / wildlife conflict.
The plan is to relocate some of the species to other neighbouring countries and to lift the ban on hunting.
“Levels of human-elephant conflict continue to escalate, especially where human and agricultural expansion moves into new areas already occupied by African elephants,”
“Livestock and crop farmers and residents in wildlife areas constantly have to contend with elephants that destroy crops and threaten livelihoods and food security,”says the Botswana government in justifying the recommendation to lift the elephant hunting ban
Regarding the lifting of the ban, Mokaila noted that there had been an outcry by foreign investors who used Botswana’s wildlife resource to enrich themselves who labeled the recommendation a ‘blood law’ in an effort to tarnish “our good name and stop tourists from appreciating our tourism.
Human/wildlife conflict, he said should not be an issue if all benefited from tourism.
Botswana’s stance has however drawn a backlash from conservationists as the contry has long been praised for its wildlife-management policies, which have spawned a tourism industry that ranks as the economy’s second-biggest sector after diamonds.
Last year, a committee appointed by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi embarked on a massive consultation drive following concerns about the increasing elephant population which was impacting negatively on communities.
Mokaila said if government revoked the ban, which was introduced in 2014, hunting would be controlled.
He implored trusts to be hands on in order to generate more income and create jobs citing Lake Ngami Conservation Trust which had expanded to charcoal production.
Mokaila said communities should own lodges adding that Botswana Tourism Organisation and other departments could assist in that regard.
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