26 Jun 2019

 Botswana has accepted a AU/UN wildlife economy summit resolution that people will be at the centre of the wildlife economy, says President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

 He was speaking to the media at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport on June 25 upon arrival from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe where the two-day summit was held.

 Botswana, he said, concurred that it was imperative that communities were treated with dignity and respect by those who engaged with them.

  He reiterated the country’s commitment to ensuring the participation of local communities in the wildlife economy as co-investors and beneficiaries. 

“These communities will henceforth be treated like other partners, as we do with the private sector. We are consistent with our democratic traditions, we need to converse with our communities and that is guided by the principle of Therisanyo. Because we have lapsed in our commitment to ensuring that communities participate in our wildlife economy we going to double our efforts to accelerate their inclusion through a resuscitation of the Community Based Natural Resource Management practices,” he added.

Dr Masisi also reconfirmed Botswana’s unwavering support to the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and promised to visit Angola to discuss KAZA-related issues with his counterpart.

“You will appreciate why we will have to go to Angola, our ultimate solution can never be effected without the participation of Angola with respect to our elephant problem,” he said.

President Masisi said the summit made it that conservation required resources to mend, maintain reserves and other infrastructure such as water and financing anti-poaching initiatives.

“That we used as a basis to justify the argument and the need to trade in the very products that we’ve gained as a result of our heavy investment in conservation. We ought to derive value out of that expenditure,” he said.

President Masisi hailed the summit a success as it offered those involved an opportunity to deepen and broaden the value chain in the wildlife economy.

“Not only to dialogue on broadening the value chain but to debate, interrogate issues of sustainable development strategies in the region and at continental level. There was an amazing convergence of views at the heads of state level particularly around sustainable utilization of environment, wildlife included. More importantly, we were united in our views on issues that are currently controversial to those who make them controversial such as trade in animal products particularly ivory,” he said. 

President Masisi said the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) had to be realistic and rational and permit legitimate, controlled trade in animal products by countries that had succeeded in legally amassing such commodities. ENDS