Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana has one of the most successful conservation records in the world and plans by the British parliament to ban the import of hunted animal products would place that enviable track record in jeopardy by having the effect of putting greater strain on ecological balance.
Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu expressed these concerns on Monday while addressing some British Members of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, which hosts the two British Houses of Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords in Central London, United Kingdom.
Mr Mthimkhulu cautioned British legislators of the consequence of passing the Hunting Trophies (Prohibition) Bill, due to be tabled for a second reading at the House of Commons on Friday, whose intent is to discourage trophy hunting by prohibiting British import of the body parts of hunted animals listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Those who sponsor the bill, which could make Botswana and Southern Africa lose the lucrative British trophy hunting market and possibly have spill over effects of similar legislation in Western Europe and North America, cite concerns over conservation, but Mr Mthimkhulu said the opposite could be the effect.
“Over the years, Botswana has managed to increase numbers of wild animals across all species, because we are among the most successful countries in the world in terms of wildlife conservation. Regulated trophy hunting, which is also permitted here in the UK, is used in Botswana to generate funds for communities living next to wildlife areas, and to help balance the ecology, by managing the ever increasing animal population, which if not regulated leads to human-wildlife conflict and a strain on the environment,” Mr Mthimkhulu said.
He revealed that already, wildlife conservation has led to large animal populations in Botswana, including 132 000 elephants, up from 50 000 over the past three decades, and 6 000 lions, adding that trophy hunting only helps to reduce their strain on biodiversity.
“In Botswana, hunting is regulated, there are strict rules, the law is observed, there are quotas, a hunting season, and a period to allow the animals to reproduce. Our hunting procedures do not allow for extinction of species; the birth rate of our elephants is around five per cent of the total the total elephant population, so every year we have about 7 000 elephants born, which is far more than the annual quota of 400 issued for hunting,” Mr Mthimkhulu said.
He added that owing to good conservation policies, the large animal herd that had been maintained encroaches into human habitat, despite 40 per cent of Botswana’s landmass being reserved for conservation, and that the country needed measures such as regulated hunting to manage the challenge.
“Due to our wildlife management success story, we have had animals continue to grow in numbers, and during periods of drought they travel to seek water and enter human settlements. We have people being trampled by elephants, mauled by lions and having their crops destroyed by these animals.” he said.
If measures to regulate animal populations such as trophy hunting were to cease, communities could start killing animals to protect themselves from this encroachment and poaching could be on the rise, undermining the good conservation efforts that exist, Mr Mthimkhulu added.
Meanwhile, British academics also addressed their parliamentarians and stressed that despite the lobbying by some conservation groups, scientific research had proved that trophy hunting was not a key threat for any species.
They cautioned that wildlife photography was not generating as much funds for rural African communities as those derived from trophy hunting and the proposed UK legislation could undermine the rights of communities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals aspirations.
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