23 Sep 2024

About 34 elephant range states met in Maun to discuss issues surrounding African elephant management in accordance with the resolution of the CITES Conference of Parties (CoP 19) that took place 2022 in Panama.

Hosted by Ministry Environment and Tourism, the four-day CITES African Elephant dialogue meeting aimed to consider harmonisation of the conditions to trade in live elephants.

Speaking at the event yesterday,  Minister of Environment and Tourism, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja applauded the decision by CITES Conference of Parties 19 to convene all the African elephant range states under the same roof, to have discussions away from the pressurised CoP environment.

Ms Makwinja said the meeting was in line with decisions taken at 19^th CITES Conference of Parties (CoP) to consider harmonisation of the conditions to trade in live African elephants and propose relevant changes to resolutions to the 20^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP20) to be held in 2025. She said elephant range states also expressed in previous meetings, a wish to expand the agenda of dialogue to include the status of elephants, disposal of ivory stockpiles and sustainable financing for elephant conservation.

Ms Makwinja further noted that it was agreed that the meeting would be held well in advance of CoP20 and Botswana was hosting the meeting to ensure they attained their goal.

“We are a continent that is rich in biodiversity and our cooperation to conserve these resources is imperative for sustainability and for our future generations. This gathering and its outcomes should, therefore, be viewed within the context of the continental Agenda 2063: The Africa we want which recognises the critical role that natural resources have and continue to play in Africa’s sustainable development and socio-economic transformation,” she added.

The minister said Botswana had always maintained that the solution to challenges facing management of elephants must be home grown and informed by collective lived experiences of Africans.

She acknowledged that challenges were diverse, saying it was through such engagements that they could come up with meaningful solutions.

“The time for African countries to speak with diverging voices in CITES is over. Now is the time to speak with one voice,” said Ms Makwinja

She said Botswana was one of the countries that was rich in biodiversity, noting that the country hosted the largest African elephant population in the continent, estimated to be 130 000.

Being home to and caring for such a large herd of elephants, she said, presented both challenges and opportunities, Ms Makwinja said.

She said the meeting was held at time when human-elephant conflict posed a growing challenge to the rural communities as it impacted food security, rural livelihoods and resulted in loss of human lives and injuries.

Government however, continues  to implement various measures aimed at managing human-wildlife conflict such as compensation, barriers, cluster fences and reactive and proactive patrols.

Despite these efforts, the minister reiterated that conflict incidences averaged 10 000, an estimated 20 people killed or injured by wild animals and compensation expenditure of about P30 million annually continued to rise unsustainably. ENDS