27 Apr 2017

The Okavango Research Institute (ORI) in collaboration with Botswana Wildlife Management Association (BWMA) have compiled hunting records information to store and make it available on an online resource centre known as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Following the 2014 moratorium on hunting in Botswana, BWMA secretary, Ms Debbie Peake said after recognising the valuable insights to wildlife research that these materials could provide, the association was working with University of Botswana’s ORI to catalogue, transfer and preserve the materials in ORI’s library. Speaking at a workshop organised for stakeholders in Maun recently,  Ms Peake said information collected by the BWMA between 1996 and 2014 about hunting quotas, concession location and trophy measurements, as well as biological specimens formed an important piece of the knowledge legacy of legal hunting in Botswana.

She explained that the aim was to capture data to a widely accessible online resource known as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Ms Peake said the Department of Wildlife and National Parks provided guidance and advice to the project.
She further explained that some of the data captured was dispatched to other different government departments and parastatals for reference and decision making purposes, adding that the decision by government in 2014 to ban hunting relied basically on this kind of information.

A research scholar from ORI, Dr Lucas Rutina emphasised that local knowledge was critical in animal population statistics.
Often, he said researchers varied according to techniques used for acquiring information, but he said much of the information was often through aerial census which often left out wide areas uncovered.
He therefore urged researchers to always consult with the local people of a given area when conducting animal related researches.

Dr Rutina stated that there were various factors that contributed to animal populations and such included habitat, disease, poaching and availability of forage.
He said market factors had contributed a lot to the decline on animal populations, adding that trophy hunters often flocked to such places where they could find the best quality trophies. He revealed that Botswana animals had been victim to such practices.
Dr Rutina said he still remained skeptical about animal populations in Botswana, citing that some researchers emphasized that animal populations were stable and increasing in this country.
He said a lot still needed to be done especially considering a wide range of differences that were often experienced from researcher to researcher.
He said a pattern in animal movement was critical in animal numbers.

“There are different reasons as to why you see some animals in places that there are not used to be seen.
Elephants which are found in rare places can primarily mean competition for females, therefore losers often wonder around to look for other mating partners, while lions could be because others of the opposite sex have been killed due to poaching therefore looking for mates,” highlighted Dr Rutina. For his part, Kgosi Bringle Dithapo said the decision by government to ban hunting was a painful one, but cited that people should remember that as custodians of the earth and its natural resources, they were obliged to conserve these resources for the next generation to also benefit from them just like they did.
He explained that even though village Community Based Natural Resources Management Committees(CBNRMs) relied heavily on hunting of some animal species  for economic benefits, there were always other measures to earn a living from, adding that conservation was like development, therefore conserving animals was more like adding future developments the tourism market deserved. ENDS