More investment needed in reducing human-wildlife conflict
The CEO of the Namibia Chamber of Environment, Chris Brown, says the ministry of environment needs to invest more in mitigating human-wildlife conflict otherwise the efforts being undertaken are a waste of time.
Brown was one of the experts speaking at the National Human-Wildlife Conference and did an analysis of 29 conservancies in six regions in Namibia.
According to Brown, there are many tried and tested solutions to wildlife conflict, but there is not enough money to implement them.
“There is no point in data collection if there is no action taken. We keep holding meetings and talk and talk and meet and meet, but unless we have the resources to address the problems it is a waste of our time.”
According to him the ministry needs to allocate funds annually in its budget to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
Brown said at the moment what was happening was just a piecemeal approach.
“We need to make this a national programme based on the needs of the conservancies.”
He said resources should be allocated according to prioritised needs and not equally divided among conservancies. That would allow those conservancies with the greatest need to receive the greatest support.
Brown pointed out that the N$60 000 allocated to conservancies to address human-wildlife conflict should also be looked into. Some conservancies such as in the Zambezi Region experience high levels of conflict whereas other regions, such as in the south, have very low levels of conflict.
According to the analysis done by Brown the conservancies with the highest priority when it comes to human-wildlife conflict are Marienfluss and Sanitatas, #Khoadi//Hoas, Mashi, Imapilala and Sorris Sorris and Dora !Nawas.
He said the impact of human-wildlife conflict on conservancies was highly variable and some experienced high losses while others experienced minimal losses.
The impact of this conflict on farmers was also variable from year to year and not all farmers shared human-wildlife costs equally.
“Farmers near parks and core wildlife areas on migration routes, near mountainous areas suffer larger losses.”
He said finding solutions to reduce incidents of human-wildlife conflict was extremely important from a financial point of view.
Brown said a human-wildlife information system needed to be set up for all conservancies, which should be updated every year from audited event books that listed crop, livestock and infrastructure losses.
ELLANIE SMIT
Brown was one of the experts speaking at the National Human-Wildlife Conference and did an analysis of 29 conservancies in six regions in Namibia.
According to Brown, there are many tried and tested solutions to wildlife conflict, but there is not enough money to implement them.
“There is no point in data collection if there is no action taken. We keep holding meetings and talk and talk and meet and meet, but unless we have the resources to address the problems it is a waste of our time.”
According to him the ministry needs to allocate funds annually in its budget to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
Brown said at the moment what was happening was just a piecemeal approach.
“We need to make this a national programme based on the needs of the conservancies.”
He said resources should be allocated according to prioritised needs and not equally divided among conservancies. That would allow those conservancies with the greatest need to receive the greatest support.
Brown pointed out that the N$60 000 allocated to conservancies to address human-wildlife conflict should also be looked into. Some conservancies such as in the Zambezi Region experience high levels of conflict whereas other regions, such as in the south, have very low levels of conflict.
According to the analysis done by Brown the conservancies with the highest priority when it comes to human-wildlife conflict are Marienfluss and Sanitatas, #Khoadi//Hoas, Mashi, Imapilala and Sorris Sorris and Dora !Nawas.
He said the impact of human-wildlife conflict on conservancies was highly variable and some experienced high losses while others experienced minimal losses.
The impact of this conflict on farmers was also variable from year to year and not all farmers shared human-wildlife costs equally.
“Farmers near parks and core wildlife areas on migration routes, near mountainous areas suffer larger losses.”
He said finding solutions to reduce incidents of human-wildlife conflict was extremely important from a financial point of view.
Brown said a human-wildlife information system needed to be set up for all conservancies, which should be updated every year from audited event books that listed crop, livestock and infrastructure losses.
ELLANIE SMIT
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