17 Mar 2015

Russia and Botswana should jealously guard against wanton poaching of their fauna and flora, according to an attaché at the Russian Embassy, Bogdan Mozharovsky.

Officiating at the launch of Mr and Miss Anti-poaching Africa pageant at the Three Dikgosi Monument in Gaborone on Saturday, Mozharovsky said Russia and Botswana each boast of rich wildlife and nature, both countries possessed well-established tourism industry.

He said in view of this, the two countries could explore ways of forging direct links to develop mutually beneficial cooperation in these areas. In addition, he said Russia was aware of an active role Botswana played in international fora dedicated to protection of wildlife and natural environment. He noted the two countries were parties to the CITES and had been coordinating approaches to its implementation.

The attaché said last February, Russia and Botswana took part in the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London, which was attended by the President Lt Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
“We are united by joint desire to combat poaching, prevent extinction of wild species through criminal activity of international poaching networks.

The kinds of wildlife we protect may differ – for Botswana it is the Big Five, while for Russia – it is Amur tiger, Caucasian and Far Eastern leopards and Polar bears. However, we are ready to cooperate and assist each other in that regard,” he said. Nevertheless, Mr Mozharovsky regretted that decades of trafficking and habitat destruction have slashed the global tiger population from 100 000 a century ago to approximately 3000, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The government of Russia, he said was a tireless proponent of saving the Amur tiger in its native habitat in the Russian Far East. The global program to double populations of wild tigers includes Russia’s National Tiger Recovery Program, which focuses on anti-poaching efforts, non-invasive population monitoring, and increasing public awareness and support through educational programs, he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long been taking a personal interest in conserving the Amur tiger subspecies in Siberia, where an estimated 450 tigers inhabit a vast area of birch forests, including the border region between Russia and north eastern China.
In 2010, he said, Saint Petersburg hosted the International Forum for Tiger Conservation and at this meeting, countries with tiger populations, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022.

In February, 2015 concluding an anti-poaching conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, these countries agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing network to fight traffickers.
Meanwhile, he said a Russian team of documentary film makers were planning to come to Botswana to produce a footage covering anti-poaching activities, especially to protect elephants and retrieve contraband of ivory.
The team represents a private film production owned by former deputy head of Presidential Administration Mr Sergei Yastrzhembsky, he noted.
On other issues, he wished success to the two governments, Captive Eye Organization and Youth in Action Society who are co-initiators of the pageant in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism.

Mr Percy Mothibi from Captive Eye Organization said the pageant which would be held on November 07, 2015 was geared towards raising the level of awareness on anti-poaching through addressing kgotla meetings, debates and community outreach activities among others. They intend to target everybody including the youth.

He also cautioned youth against being used in poaching activities by being offered tempting large sum of money by poaching cartels from around the world. Mr Mothibi said the success of tourism in the country depend on communal engagement and those who turned poaching into a hobby, especially in rural areas. ENDS