21 Mar 2016

The wildlife regional director, Mr Timothy Blackbeard, says there has been positive development since inception of the northern Botswana human wildlife co-existence project, which ends this month. 

Mr Blackbeard said the project ensured training of community trust members on issues of management as well as training of youth from those areas on tourism related programmes.

He was speaking at the graduation ceremony of the third batch of the northern Botswana human wildlife co-existence project on in Maun on Thursday.

Mr Blackbeard said the graduation indicated the success of the project as it promoted employability of youth from rural areas in the tourism industry.

He said communities had been trained on proactive measures such as chilli pepper, bee hive fences and predator proof methods which promoted co-existence. 

The five-year project funded by World Bank aimed to promote harmony between people and wildlife species in communities with heightened human wildlife conflicts.

Other strategies, he said, were erection of elephant restraint fences and use of early maturing seeds by arable farmers.

Mr Blackbeard said the northern Botswana human wildlife co-existence project was focused on 13 villages from Boteti, Ngamiland and Chobe 

In his remarks, Maun East Member of Parliament, Mr Konstantinos Markus commended the coexistence project for its contribution to employment opportunities in wildlife related field and promotion of harmony with wildlife species in those rural areas.

Mr Markus noted that a total of 294 young people from the rural areas targeted by the coexistence project have graduated in tourism related programmes such as Lodge Management, Professional Safari Guides since inception of the project at Career Dreams institution.

He observed that the graduates were better placed to be employed by tourism facilities therefore improve livelihoods in their communities and would promote coexistence therefore achieved the mandate of the project. Ends