30 May 2019

Various stakeholders have advocated for seamless harmonisation of policies and legislation across relevant government departments in order to win war against human/wildlife conflict.

They said this during the Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Drylands Ecosystems Project dialogue, organised by UNDP in conjunction with Department of Environmental Affairs and Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The forum attracted stakeholders in Kgalagadi South who unanimously called for seamless dovetail of policies and legislation of land boards, local authorities, Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security and Department of Wildlife and National Parks to ensure peaceful co-existence of wild animals and humans.

Conservation Communities representative, Mr Edward Bojang stated that it was pertinent for all relevant departments to do away with working in silos and come together collectively to ensure that the symbiosis of the ecosystem was balanced sustainably.

He said war on human/wildlife conflict continued to rage on, hence the need to address it. 

Nonetheless, Mr Bojang said all was not lost as government had taken a step to lift the hunting ban. 

For this reason, he said, the current move would go a long way in curbing human/wildlife conflict.

“The hunting ban had over the years caused free movement of animals, which grew to big numbers. 

These animals then entered farmer’s territories. 

At the same time livestock entered wildlife management area in search of grazing, which affected the environment,” he said.

Further, he asserted that Botswana’s indigenous resources were gradually declining due to invasive plant species such as tlolela grass, prosopis commonly known as sexanana and mongana, which were gradually reaching uncontrollable levels.

At the same time, farmers in Kgalagadi and Ghanzi regions overstocked livestock, which caused overgrazing as they were reluctant to sell their livestock, citing low buying prices from the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) as their reason.

Farmers Association representative, Mr Leo Tumaeletse also emphasised the need for transformation to deal with climate change by managing and implementing policies collectively. 

He highlighted that the current drought season exacerbated the human/wildlife conflict as animals fought for limited grazing area and encroaching on territories not designed for them.

Mr Tumaeletse warned farmers against the use poisonous chemicals to kill wild animals as that might cause more harm to the environment and also endanger the lives of the people.

On statistics, Department of Wildlife and National Parks senior wildlife warden, Mr Kesebelwang Maenge divulged that they had received 90 cases of human/wildlife conflict in the 21 villages in Kgalagadi South, where over P226 217 000 was paid as compensation from January to December 2018.

In 2019, he said, 45 cases had been reported from January to May, where P95 452 000 was paid out as compensation. 

He said the most rampant cases were those of lions, leopards and cheetahs killing livestock, thus becoming a possible cause of poverty.

Furthermore, Mr Maenge said the department had shortage of transport, which curtailed them from attending to some of the cases on time.

Another issue worth noting was that human populations were gradually increasing and people had now started living closer to national parks, which was a factor worth consideration as it caused conflict.

On climatic conditions in the Kgalagadi region, he said due to extreme temperatures, cattle were kraaled during the day and left to graze under cool temperatures in the evening and at night, where wild animals were most active, hence the conflict. 

Thus, he said better ways of managing livestock and wildlife should be devised.

For his part, Kgosi Isaac Titus of Struizendam called for the wildlife boundary fence to be rehabilitated. 

He said when the fence was erected 15 years ago, wild animals did not encroach in the territories reserved for humans. 

“Now the fence is too old.

How can we expect lions to stay in the park?” He questioned rhetorically.

The UNDP Project Management Unit representative, Ms Ikanyeng Gaodirelwe told the meetin g about the Kalahari Integrated Land Management Plan study, which he said was underway and called for all involved stakeholders to participate.

She said to curb human/wildlife conflict in the Kgalagadi region, extensive consultations should be held and communities trained on implementing methods tailored for them.

Ms Gaodirelwe noted that to deal with invasive species such as Prosopis, a project was underway to produce livestock fodder and charcoal in Gakhibane, Khawa, Bokspits, Rappelspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendum.

For his part, Department of Environmental Affairs Policies and Programmes Unit officer, Mr Khulekani Mpofu said the Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Drylands Ecosystems Project began two years ago and was funded by GEF to the tune of P3.5 million. Ends