Professional Hunters, Conservationists And Government Cooperate In Namibia

Extracts from various reports in The Namibian Economist

The Lazarus Shinyemba Ipangelwa (LSI) Foundation and the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (NAPHA) hosted a second trophy hunting workshop on August 22nd attended by government representatives, commercial farmers, communal conservancy members, farming entrepreneurs and conservationists.

Dr Chris Brown, an environmental expert, said that Wildlife management and production, with its associated components of trophy hunting, meat production, live sale and tourism, have shown a steady increase in Namibia. And because some of the components of wildlife management are more service oriented than primary production based, they are far less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Minister of Environment and Tourism, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, mentioned that the growth of capacity in the community conservancies to manage wildlife and develop economic activities based on this wildlife is evident. We have seen the creation of jobs and the generation of revenue in areas which previously had few options other than subsistence farming. We appreciate how well local communities have integrated wildlife management in their other activities and increasingly how such wildlife management is complementing other forms of land use? Through the community based natural resource management (CBNRM) program, government has restored the link between conservation and rural development. Marina Lamprecht of the Namibian Professional Hunters Association (NAPHA) highlighted the increase in illegal and unethical hunting as becoming a serious threat to Namibia's trophy hunting sector, saying that the situation is made worse by the lack of law enforcement to effectively punish those who hunt unethically and/or illegally. [We] are frustrated that we have now waited over 12 years for the Wildlife Bill operating in a legal vacuum which lacks definitions and preventative measures to discourage canned leopard hunting. Lamprecht urged the Minister to adopt an attitude of zero tolerance towards those who hunt unethically and make a mockery of hunting legislation.

In 2007, the Namibian trophy hunting industry contributed 2.3% to the GDP through generating revenues of N$316 million. This figure does not include secondary goods and services such as airfares, accommodation and meals and game park fees. However, revenue generated from trophy hunting has decreased significantly since then; decreasing by 7.7% in 2008 and by 40% in 2009, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.