Botswana’s northern citizens derive economic benefits from living side by side with wildlife
In the northern part of Botswana, wildlife roams freely thereby creating a serious human-wildlife conflict. Wildlife destroys crops, and properties and even poses a threat to the residents.
However, this co-existence between humans and wildlife has also brought extraordinary and life-changing benefits to the residents of these wildlife infested communities.
Mababe community, situated some 925 km northwest of Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, has benefited from the country’s Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) program, which aims to achieve a balance between wildlife conservation and rural development.
“CBNRM has delivered positive conservation, rural development and governance impacts,” said Bofeletse Ruthamo, the chairperson of Mababe Zokotsama Community Development Trust, adding that at least 250 people have been employed in lodges utilized by tourists who visit his community to view wildlife.
Botswana is renowned for its spectacular wildlife and pristine wilderness areas, with tourism as the country’s second largest foreign currency earner, behind diamond mining. It is also home to some 130,000 elephants, more than any other country in the world.
To keep the balance between the local economy and wildlife conservation, Botswana has proved hunting as a tourism activity, although it has always been controversial.
According to a 2019 International Union for Conservation of Nature report titled Informing Decisions on Trophy Hunting, prices paid for hunts differ enormously, from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars.
Nchunga Nchunga, the board member of the Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust, told Xinhua: “In 2022, my community Trust managed to earn 4.6 million pula (an estimated 350,000 U.S. dollars) from international hunting,” adding that the money was used to meet the communities’ socioeconomic needs such as houses, mortuaries.
In 2014, former President Ian Khama of Botswana put in place a moratorium on hunting citing species decline. However, President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted the ban in 2019.
“In fact, a driving force behind the change was the demonstrated economic benefits of legal hunting,” said Uyapo Ndadi, a human rights lawyer based in Gaborone.
Cited as well, Ndadi added, were increases in human and wildlife conflicts experienced over the five years of banning and the inability of the country’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks to adequately respond to problematic animals.
A recently circulated video shows an elephant bull violently slamming a resident of a Botswana hunting community into the ground with fellow residents watching helplessly. They screamed to scare the elephant bull away, but the wild animal did not stop its deadly attack.
While at hunting lodges where hunters stay and dine, local people are employed as chefs, waitresses, car-washers, professional hunters and trackers, said Gakemotho Satau, the coordinator of Okavango Cultural and Development Initiatives Trust.
“Local people use their income to support their families and send their children to schools. This helps to alleviate poverty,” Satau said. Enditem