Lara Robertson - Namibia: In Defence of the Indefensible OPINION AT RISK of defending the indefensible ... and while recognising that trophy hunting a rhino is a highly polarising issue, please understand that the decision to hunt a rhino is not taken lightly by a nation that has created the extraordinary circumstances in these 23 years since independence for more than a 400% increase in our national rhino population and all that sail with them - lions, elephants etc. Namibias commitment to the national priority of sustainable use of natural resources has resulted in an exceptional track record in a short period of time; since independence the surface area of Namibia under sustainable conservation management has increased more than three-fold from 13% to 46% and continues growing. This astonishing improvement for life on earth in modern Africa is wholly on account of nature paying its way. Today Namibia is a leading light in sustainable natural resource utilisation. The President received the WWF Gift of The Earth Award on behalf of the nation for the second time at an event in Windhoek last weekend. This global recognition is directly attributable to the nations enlightened policy and practice of sustainable resource management. As Cathy Dean, Director of London-based Save The Rhino International, sets out: the country led the way with community-based natural resources management programmes in the 1990s, an approach that has widely been hailed as keeping communities on the side of wildlife as rhino poaching has stormed through Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has been an early adopter of various types of new technologies for protecting rhino - UAVs, tags, micro chipping rhino, satellite bracelets etc. From a governance point of view Namibia and South Africa have had the right under CITES to offer five trophy hunts per annum of black rhinos since 2004, when there were around 3,600 black rhinos (now there are 5,055). Black rhino trophy hunting has been on offer for nine years. Funds from the auction will go to the Game Products Trust Fund in Namibia and will be ring-fenced specifically for rhino conservation efforts. Non-consumptive or photographic tourism alone cannot change African conservation in every sense. The business model on which this strategy depends simply cannot sustain itself in every African circumstance. Certainly it is also apparent that different levels of tourism - mass, niche, upper end, budget and so on - are necessary and must be applied according to circumstance. Beyond this it is equally clear that tourism of the photographic, non-consumptive kind cannot succeed without certain critical factors. In the absence of these critical factors, and in order for conservation to progress, it is important that other economically viable and sustainable land uses be implemented. Consumptive utilisation, or hunting, is one such land use and is one that in the right circumstances can add immeasurably to conservation in Africa. There are in fact many cases in Africa where trophy hunting has added significantly to conservation and where photographic or non-consumptive tourism could not have been as effective. We share the views of respected academics who have applied dispassionate analysis to Africas hunting industry and conclude that: Trophy hunting is ... of major importance to conservation in Africa by creating economic incentives for conservation over vast areas, including areas which may be unsuitable for alternative wildlife-based land uses such as photographic ecotourism. In short: 1. Hunting, practised ethically and sustainably, can be as effective a conservation mechanism as non-consumptive photographic ecotourism. 2. In certain circumstances hunting can be the most effective conservation mechanism. 3. Hunting and photographic ecotourism can be practised to good conservation effect in parallel but cannot overlap. The fact is several of the enlightened large international Conservation organizations do support and work with the authorities and decision makers. On their website one asserts that it does not actively support trophy hunting and in a perfect world this wouldnt happen at all. Working as we do within the realities and challenges of conservation on the ground, weve been forced to accept that sometimes conservation requires some very difficult decisions in order for us to conserve the overall populations. In some areas where we work, governments decide to initiate trophy hunting as a conservation tool so the money raised can be used to support conservation efforts more widely. Wherever possible we avoid this option but in some places, such as where eco-tourism cannot provide income for local communities, it may be the only option to incentivise people to live with wildlife. The money raised can be used to benefit communities and support conservation efforts more widely. In those areas, we work to ensure that quotas are set conservatively, based on the best available science and have clear net conservation gains. We believe getting involved in this way makes us more effective where trophy hunting occurs than we would be by sitting on the side-lines. Its far from our preferred option, but in certain situations its the best one available to secure wildlife populations until a more suitable option can be put in place. The bottom line is our nations exceptional conservation record is predicated on a balanced approach so that mankind can live in harmony with wildlife. The writer is Sales Manager for a conservation-based photographic safari operator.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 03:55:31 +0000
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