N$42m for wildlife conflict in 15 years

Over the past 15 years, nearly N$42 million has been spent on human-wildlife conflict incidents across the country.This year alone, N$1.58 million has been paid to victims of these incidents.According to Richard Freyer, chief control warden of human-wildlife conflict management and conservation hunting at the environment ministry, data from 2019 to date shows that outside conservancies, payments made for human-wildlife incidents amounted to more than N$2.57 million. Within conservancies, it totalled N$15.59 million.“We are still trying to recover all the data from before 2019, but that is quite a big job,” he said during a presentation on the implementation of a human wildlife control self-reliance scheme.Since 2019, a total of 37 people have been killed by wildlife, for which N$3.6 million has been paid out, he said.Sixteen of these deaths were caused by crocodiles, while hippos killed 13 people. The other deaths were caused by elephants and a baboon.Freyer added that four people have lost their lives in similar incidents this year.Vulnerable to abuseAccording to him, compensation schemes implemented for losses caused by wildlife conflict have in the past been problematic and vulnerable to abuse.“There was therefore a need to find other means to offset losses caused by wildlife, and at the same time build self-reliance of farmers. That is why we rather refer to it as an offset system than a compensation scheme.”He said a number of people are killed by wild animals every year in Namibia.“Legally, the state owns all wildlife - except where legislation provides otherwise.”He added that government cannot be held accountable for the death of a person caused by a wild animal, but said the state acknowledged that it has a moral obligation to support the family through the provision of funeral expenses.The self-reliance scheme only applies to conservancies and non-conservancy areas on state land and resettlement farms, not private farms.Offset amountsConflict caused by wild animals include the loss of human life and injuries to people, predation and killing of livestock, damage to property, destruction of crops and gardens, damage to vegetation and competition with livestock for forage.Freyer explained that according to the current policy, the offset amount for loss of life is N$100 000 - an increase from the N$50 000 in the previous policy.The previous policy had no category for injuries to people. Meanwhile, a person with an injury but no loss of a body part receives N$10 000, while those who have lost a body part get N$30 000. For a permanent disability, the offset amount is N$50 000.For the loss of a cow or a bull N$3 000 is paid out, a sheep N$700 and crop damage per hectare N$1 000.Some of the challenges experienced with the scheme are backlogs, while some conservancies cannot account for funds spent on human-wildlife conflict, Freyer said. A lack of investigation skills is another challenge plaguing the scheme.

N$42m for wildlife conflict in 15 years

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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N$42m for wildlife conflict in 15 years

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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