The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism will hold a national conference next month to discuss human-wildlife conflict and find a long-term solution to the issue, minister Pohamba Shifeta announced on Thursday.
Shifeta said in a ministerial statement in parliament that the growing problem of human-wildlife conflict is partially attributable to the government’s conservation efforts.
“The incidents of human-wildlife conflict have intensified following our successful wildlife management strategies that have led to growth in wildlife populations outside protected areas.
“The situation is worsened by reoccurring droughts across the country, leading to increased competition over resources and space between people and wild animals,” he said.
However, Shifeta pointed out that the community-based conservation programme has created employment and income-generation opportunities for communities across the country.
He said 3 548 jobs were created, 998 of them for community members working in conservatives and 774 full-time and 62 part-time positions in joint-venture tourism businesses.
In addition, 130 full-time and 188 part-time employment opportunities were created in the conservation and hunting sectors, with many other people employed in small-and-medium enterprises, he said.
Conservancies generated N$91,7 million in income that has benefited over 238 701 community members.
“Incidents of human-wildlife conflict, however, remain a concern, as they seem to overshadow the benefits as well as opportunities created for Namibians.
“These incidents mainly involve infrastructure damage, livestock losses, crop damage, and, in some unfortunate incidents, loss of life and injuries to people,” Shifeta said
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