Namibia: ‘Alarming Rate’ of Human-Wildlife Conflict Prompts Campaign

Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda says a national awareness campaign on human-wildlife conflict was prompted by the alarming rate at which these conflicts were taking place in the country.

The campaign kicked off in the Zambezi region earlier this week, however, the ministry will also engage communities in Kavango West, Kavango East, Kunene, Oshikoto, Oshana and Omusati, where human-wildlife conflict occurs frequently.

“Since the beginning of the year, a lot of people are losing their lives as a result of human-wildlife conflict. The culprits being crocodiles, elephants, hippos, etcetera. People are not only losing their lives but their property is being damaged, such as crop fields, livestock and infrastructure. We are aware that our people are depending on their crop fields and livestock for survival and the care of their families,” Muyunda said.

Though the ministry is putting in place measures to minimise human-wildlife conflict incidences, there seems to be a grey area in communal areas, which arises as a result of a lack of information sharing.

“The communal farmers and the public in general feel that it’s the ministry’s responsibility alone to manage human-wildlife conflict. However, the policy on human-wildlife conflict gives the duty of care to farmers and stakeholders to put in place measures to reduce human-wildlife conflict,” he said.

According to Muyunda, the government does not want any more loss of life due to human-wildlife conflict, thus they want communities to take up the responsibility of preventing human-wildlife conflict.

“We want informed citizens, additionally, citizens that would take responsibility for their own lives as we continue to see some traits of negligence in some of the incidents. Some situations can be avoided, and we want to create awareness around that for them to take precautions. Things like walking at night in areas where there is wildlife, or washing clothes or bathing in the river where crocodiles are,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of Namibians co-existing with wildlife, and said peaceful coexistence will result in communities deriving more benefits from wildlife conservation efforts.

During Monday’s engagement, farmers raised several concerns, and asserted that their human-wildlife conflict reports are not attended to. They also say some areas are not benefiting from wildlife conservation efforts.

“Additionally, as much as we would like to prevent the conflict, we can’t because we do not have resources. Our crop fields are threatened by elephants on a daily basis. We cannot stay away from the river because we depend on fishing for our livelihood, which is threatened by crocodiles and hippos. We really need the government to help us,” said Richard Nyambe, a farmer from Imukusi village.

Another farmer, George Mutanimuye, called for more protection of human life. He also accused ministerial officials of enjoying the troubles they face with regard to human-wildlife conflicts, and observed that the hippo population has increased resulting in more of their crops being destroyed.

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