Mmegi

Inside communities’

EMMANUEL KORO*

JOHANNESBURG: Without it, Botswana’s hunting communities would have never known what it feels like to democratically determine how to meet their own socio-economic needs.

They enjoy the money they receive from it and have comparatively ‘healthy’ bank accounts. However, this is not money earned for nothing. It comes at a great cost of co-existing with wildlife that destroys their crops, property, and even makes them pay the ultimate price of losing their loved ones.

Nevertheless, they still conserve that which usually harms them, wildlife; because the benefits from international wildlife hunting are far greater than the human-wildlife conflict costs.

A recently circulated video shows an elephant bull violently slamming a resident of a Botswana hunting community to the ground with fellow residents watching helplessly. They scream to scare the elephant bull away, but the wild animal does not stop its deadly attack. The elephant bull takes the life of their fellow resident almost instantly. Some residents survive such attacks but they are left disabled, unable to walk or feed themselves.

Amid all these costs, co-existing with wildlife is a promising 21st century wildlife economy boom in Botswana’s hunting communities.

It is not common in Africa that a rural community receive almost $1 million annually and uses it for wildlife and habitat conservation, including socio-economic development as it wishes. However, it is quite common in Botswana’s wildlife-rich hunting communities to receive large payments from international hunting and use the income to support conservation and socio-economic development.

The payments for hunting trophies are made to Botswana’s hunting communities months ahead of the international hunting season that starts in April, annually. The hunters are always guaranteed of hunting their trophies in these wildlife-rich communities – hence the upfront payments. What a wonderful and sustainable business! The Botswana hunting communities say it is their major economic activity in the 21st century that is “set to continue growing in the future”.

According to a 2019 IUCN report, Informing Decisions on Trophy Hunting, prices paid for hunts differ enormously from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars per animal. They involve a substantial revenue flow from developed to developing countries. In developing countries, landowners/ managers often negotiate with “hunting operators” to decide who will get the hunting right or “concession” on their land, and on what terms. The operator, in turn, secures contracts with clients overseas and runs the hunting trips.

No wonder why this month several Botswana hunting community representatives described international hunting as their “main economic activity”. Apart from benefiting from international hunting, the Botswana hunting communities also get empowered to negotiate trophy hunting prices with hunting operators.

A university graduate and resident of the Ngamiland hunting community, Gakemotho Satau said over the years, international hunting is the biggest economic activity in Botswana’s hunting communities. Satau is the coordinator of the Trust for Okavango and Cultural Development Initiatives.

“International hunting supports hunting communities’ diverse socio-economic options.

“Therefore, if international hunting is banned, communities will lose revenue streams, jobs, and wildlife poaching arising from

Debate

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2023-03-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://enews.mmegi.bw/article/281805698162801

Dikgang Publishing