Africa-Press – Botswana. The US government is working closely with Botswana and civil society to develop innovative strategies to prevent human-animal conflict while also protecting the country’s valuable natural resources.
This was said by Ms Natalie Patton, a US embassy official during World Wildlife Day commemoration in Ghanzi on Friday.
She applauded Botswana’s commitment to safeguarding natural resources as evidenced by the existence of a wildlife-friendly society which has become home to biodiversity of global significance.
“Botswana is unique in that the protected areas are open, where wildlife are free to roam as nature intended,” said Ms Patton.
She also gave Botswana kudos for its outstanding poaching and wildlife trafficking deterrence record.
However, Ms Patton said such a wildlife-friendly environment also presented enormous challenges for communities living around areas with an abundace of wildlife hence the US assistance.
She described the US as a long-standing leader in combating wildlife trafficking globally, committing some US$100 million to the fight annually.
Ms Patton said the US government placed importance on supporting African partners such as Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks to lead in protecting wildlife and the environment as well as fighting nature crime.
Her government, she said, was appreciative of the department’s work which covered combating wildlife trafficking, educating communities, empowering and equipping the next generation to become responsible environmental stewards.
Ms Patton said the US government was happy to partner with the department via the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and the International Law Enforcement Academy on counter-wildlife trafficking and cybercrime training.
“We believe that together we can accomplish our shared goals of reducing wildlife crimes and conserving the continent’s biodiversity and ecosystems,” she stated.
The department’s director, Dr Kabelo Senyatso said wildlife conservation partnerships would help the country to achieve the vision 2036 pillar on sustainable and optimal use of natural resources.
Dr Senyatso called for the exploration and exploitation of the wildlife value chain expressing concern at the low uptake of the game rearing initiative.
According to the director, not even a single person in the Ghanzi region had benefited since the initiative’s inception in 2021.
Responding to Kgosi Annah Rankho’s concern that the predator compensation rate was too low, Dr Senyatso said the dispensation to allocate a group of farmers in extension areas a hunting quota was underway and would help the situation.
Farmers, he explained, could use hunting proceeds to augment predator compensation.
Giving the vote of thanks, Councillor Lemon Mothibi suggested a reflection on the fulfilment of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered (CITIES) protocols.
His other suggestion was that conservation should include protection of forests saying veldt fires caused great destruction to both vegetation and wild animals and disrupted the ecosystem.
Earlier, representatives of Xwiskurusa and Itangoo trusts, Messrs Onosi Dithapong and James Kilo respectively, testified that hunting proceeds came in handy for their trusts and communities.
In the recent hunting quota, they said each trust pocketed over P 1.7 million as proceeds of hunting.
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