04 Aug 2024

Farmers in Hukuntsi have requested government to consider fencing communal and grazing areas as a mitigation strategy to address human-wildlife conflict in the district.

Farmers stated during a meeting addressed by the Okavango Research Institute (ORI) officials engaged by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, through the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to develop a National Human Wildlife Conflict Strategy and Action Plan.

They said if implemented effectively, the strategy would help in protecting livestock from predators, noting  that wild-dogs were the biggest nuisance in the area.

Farmers sated that habitat disturbance and destruction by predators led to the animals being killed by the community.

 They suggested fencing grazing and communal areas as a lasting solution that would promote peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife.

Once such was achieved, they said, government would assist to formulate rules and regulations that would ensure equal benefit by the community.

They said mitigation measures should protect crops and farm animals equally.

The farmers also complained of being alienated from wildlife related enterprises.

ORI representative, Dr Gaseitsewe Masunga stated that they were conducting an exercise  that entailed extensive consultations with different stakeholders, including the community, in order to develop a national human-wildlife conflict strategy and action plan.

He said the aim of the meeting was to inform and get views and inputs from the public on the direction and development of the strategy and plan.

Dr Masunga said  government deemed it imperative to assess human-wildlife conflict within local communities that lived adjacent to wildlife.

He noted that such detailed investigations were needed in order to identify the causes of conflicts and adverse consequences with a view to mitigating challenges through consultation with affected communities.

Dr Masunga highlighted that government was steadfast in addressing finding effective solution to the conflict in respective communities.

He indicated that the plan was to ensure that the strategy empowered communities to understand causes of human-wildlife conflicts and the role that they could play to reduce it as that would assist in addressing the current challenges identified in compensation rates for damages caused by wild animals to livestock, crops and other property.

Through consultations, Dr Masunga said, government also sought to identify views on how local communities could best benefit from the value chain developments that came with wildlife which lived amongst them.

He said government was working towards solutions that maximised conservation success and for that, it was necessary to include positive interaction, coexistence and attitudes of tolerance towards wildlife.

Part of the strategy, he said, included mapping human-wildlife hotspots and establishing ways to reduce incidents of human -wildlife deaths as well as crop destruction by wildlife.

For his part, Kgosi Merapelo Tshweneyagae of Hukuntsi commended government’s efforts to address human-wildlife conflicts in the district.

Kgosi Tshweneyagae stated that as human population increased, demand for grazing land also increased.   ENDS