24 Sep 2024

In an endeavour to sustainably manage the numbers and derive economic value from elephant resources, Botswana has developed and approved the National Elephant Management and Action Plan 2021-2026.

Minister of Environment and Tourism, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja, stated this on Monday  at the ongoing Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting noting that community beneficiation forms a key element of the elephant management plan through consumptive and non-consumptive means.

She said Botswana has a CITES quota, which has been judiciously utilised to ensure that communities benefit from elephants thriving in their localities noting that the quotas were informed by Non-Detriment Findings (NDFs), which serve as a guide to ensure that international trade in CITES listed species does not impact on their ability to survive in the wild.

“The ability to trade in legitimately and sustainably sourced wildlife and wildlife products goes to the very heart of our wildlife conservation policy in Botswana.

“This is why we have noted with growing concern the hunting trophy import bans that are being imposed by some western European countries,” she added.

While Botswana respects CITES parties’ right to impose stricter domestic measures, Ms Makwinja pointed out that failure to recognise the importance of sustainable legal trade would have the unintended effect of hindering efforts to conserve wildlife and to safeguard community livelihoods. She called upon countries to engage with Botswana before they adopt measures that may undermine efforts to conserve wildlife heritage and sustainable development goals.

She implored the international community to ensure that all legislative and policy directions were transformative as well as backed by science and evidence.

 Ms Makwinja acknowledged that Botswana’s remarkable conservation successes could not have been achieved without international and regional cooperation and support noting that Botswana, through her membership of CITES, has over the years benefitted from capacity building and technical assistance in the areas of legislation, law enforcement, and species management.

 The conference also learnt that a total of 30 percent of land mass in Botswana is part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), and home to over 50 percent of the continental African elephant population. The goal of the largest transfrontier area in world is to sustainably manage the Kavango-Zambezi landscape by harmonising wildlife management in the partner countries.

 The KAZA-TFCA includes member states of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and Ms Makwinja shared that the very ambitious KAZA wide aerial census of elephants and other wildlife species was successfully carried out in 2022 and it was established that there are 230 000 elephants that roam across the KAZA landscape.

“It is gratifying to note that the results of the KAZA elephant survey have found their way into the African Elephant Status Report that will be deliberated upon during this meeting,” she said.

Minister Makwinja also decried that illegal trade in wildlife poses significant challenges and threats to biodiversity by undermining the potential benefits from legal trade that contributes significantly to local community livelihoods and rural development.

 She said available evidence, showed that poaching of elephants and trafficking of ivory remains a significant threat across the continent.

She said as part of the strategy to combat the illegal wildlife trade, Botswana has recently approved the National Anti-Poaching Strategy, which advocates for a collaborative and participative approach to combatting this scourge.

“The strategy recognises that communities who live side by side with wildlife are our eyes and ears on the ground. The same communities must be incentivised through meaningful participation in the wildlife economy to play their role to counter illegal activity,” she explained.

She challenged the participants to deliberate on issues that impact elephant conservation and management and come up with the outcomes that would reflect on collective desire to protect wildlife heritage and harness its potential to develop their economies. Ends