Parliament has been urged to prioritise the strengthening of human wildlife conflict policy and compensation framework ensuring that compensation is timely, fair and reflective of actual loses including loss of live, injury, crop damage and livestock predation.
The call was made by the Chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Wildlife, Tourism, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Gabatsholwe Disho when giving the keynote address during the official opening of the International Parliamentary Roundtable on Human Wildlife Co-existence on Monday. Disho who is also Member of Parliament for Okavango East lamented that delay and inadequate compensation undermine trust and community tolerance.
He noted that there is a need to increase budgetary allocations for preventative and mitigation measures such as early warning system, reinforced kraals, wildlife proof fencing in high risks zones and the protection of critical wildlife corridors to reduce unnecessary contact between people and wildlife. According to him, parliament must advise for integrated land use planning legislation that aligns settlement expansion, agricultural development and infrastructure with wildlife movement patterns and the creation of wildlife corridors, climate resilience goals and ecosystem protection.
“Community Based Natural Resource Management should be revitalised through strong or stronger legal backing and governance reforms, ensuring that communities receive predictable and equitable benefits from wildlife and tourism,” he said. Disho also urged parliament to promote inclusive participation in wildlife and tourism value chain, particularly for rural youth and women through policy incentives, citizen empowerment programs and access to finance and skills development.
He said that given the growing impact of climate change parliament must ensure that human wildlife coexistence is mainstreamed into national climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies recognising conflict as a climate related risk. The MP said there is a need for parliament to strengthen data collection research and monitoring frameworks enabling evidence-based decision making and adaptive management of wildlife population including elephants in line with ecological capacity and community safety.
“We must also ensure that policies are adaptive, evidenced based and responsive to challenging environmental and social conditions, equally important is revitalizing the community based natural resource management approach. Communities must be empowered not as passive beneficiaries but as active partners and decision makers in conservation and tourism,” he said. He expressed that the rising elephant populations, increasing crop damage, livestock loses and the tragic loss of human life reminds that human wildlife coexistence cannot be achieved through conservation alone, it requires fairness, inclusion, accountability and political participation.
Disho said that human wildlife coexistence in Botswana is no longer an abstract policy debate, but is lived and often difficult daily reality for thousands of Batswana particularly in wildlife rich districts such as Ngamiland, Chobe, Central Kalahari, Ghanzi and parts of the North East. He added that in these areas communities live daily with risks caused by wildlife, risks that affect food security, livelihoods, safety, and even human life. In her remarks, Head of the EU Delegation to Botswana and SADC, Petra Pereyra said that Botswana’s strong conservation policies, effective protection and regional cooperation have allowed the wildlife to recover and thrive. She stated that at the same time this success brings challenges in the form of human wildlife coexistence or conflict which remains one of the most pressing conservation and rural development issues in Botswana and in the Southern Africa Region.
She highlighted that Botswana faces recurrent crop damage, livestock losses, destruction of infrastructure and most critically risk to human safety and human lives, pointing that these challenges must be addressed. “As wildlife populations and compete for space and resources, the impact on livelihoods and rural communities becomes increasingly important and managing this balance is not easy but it is possible and absolutely essential,” she said. She assured that the European Union is committed to supporting practical, sustainable solutions to human wildlife conflict through funding, dialogue, and international partnerships.
