Staff Reporter
THE Institute for Public Policy Research, (IPPR) in new report has stated that while poaching has always been a problem for Namibia, since 2015, the poaching of high value wildlife species (elephants, rhinos, pangolins) has seen a sharp spike.
Giving a presentation of the briefing paper titled, Depleting natural capital: How Namibia has been losing wildlife, forests, and sand through bad governance and maladministration since 2015, IPPR research associate, Federico Links stated that poaching, illegal logging and forest harvesting, and illegal sand-mining have come to characterise Namibia’s struggles to maintain its natural assets in the face of climate change gaining increasing prominence as a threat to the sustainability of the drought-prone southern African country that is hemmed in by growing deserts.
Namibia’s natural capital that has escalated since around 2015 can be attributed to a failure of governance – government departments and entities that have struggled, underperformed or failed in their custodial or regulatory mandates or functions concerning safeguarding some of Namibia’s most prized natural assets.
Links stated since 2015, the cumulative losses of high value wildlife, some of which are either threatened or endangered, has been staggering and the high rates of poaching of rhino and pangolins continues to be concerning through 2020.
According to statistics in the report, in the year 2015 a total of 49 Elephants were poached while in 2019 the number decreased to 12. In total over the five year period a total of 239 elephants were poached in Namibia cumulatively.
In comparison, the number of Rhino’s poached was much higher, with a total of 97 Rhino’s killed in 2015, while a total 45 Rhino’s were poached in 2019. Over the five year period, a maximum of 332 Rhino’s were poached.
“Since 2018 Namibian environmental and law enforcement authorities appear to be making progress in turning the poaching tide through strong collaboration and coordination with communities and private conservation initiatives. Even so, the fact that the long-in-coming Protected Areas and Wildlife Management Bill and the National Strategy on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement have not been passed or adopted and implemented speaks volumes of the Namibian government’s commitment to urgently and decisively confront the poaching scourge;” Links said.
He added that according to arrest figures, it seems clear that increasing numbers of people are engaging in or contemplating engaging in poaching of high value wildlife species, suggesting that the poaching crisis is far from resolved.
“The unsustainable exploitation and unregulated use, as well as the disregard of laws and science, of natural wealth will undoubtedly have far-reaching consequences for Namibia long into the future, for as the World Bank states: “The depletion of natural capital – including assets like forests, water, fish stocks, minerals, biodiversity and land – poses a significant challenge to achieving poverty reduction and sustainable development objectives. The issue is especially important in developing countries as shown in a World Bank publication,” Links said.
