Maria David
ADDRESSING Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) requires a balance being struck between conservation priorities and the needs of people who live with wildlife.
The Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta said HWC needs to be managed in a way that recognizes the rights and development needs of local communities and farmers.
Shifeta added that measures also need to ensure that biodiversity conservation and self-reliance are promoted while ensuring that decision-making is quick, efficient, and based on the best available information.
According to Shifeta, good rains over certain parts of the country resulted in water levels in rivers levels rising, and that floods are already experienced in some areas.
“As a result, crocodiles, hippos, snakes, and other wild animals are moving with and out of the way of the rising water which will eventually create more incidents of HWC,” he said.
Apart from moving wildlife, reports of elephants causing damage to crops, water infrastructure, and property have been reported in the areas of Ehirovipuka and Kamanjab in the Kunene Region, Ruacana, and Okahao of the Omusati Region, Okongo, Nehale Lya Mpingana, and Eengondi in Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions.
He said that commercial farming areas near Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa Region, communal farming areas around Mangetti and Musese areas in the Kavango West Region, areas around Khaudum National Park and Bwabwata National Park in the Kavango East Region, the Omatjete area in the Erongo Region, and many parts of the Zambezi Region also recorded elephant trouble.
Shifeta also stated that buffaloes were reported to be destroying crops in the Zambezi Region, mainly in areas around Lake Liambezi, the eastern floodplains as well as areas around Nkasa Rupara, Mudumu, and the Bwabwata National Park.
“In the Kunene and Omusati regions, lions continue to attack livestock,” he said.
Shifeta cautioned communities and the general public not to take risks that may result in incidents of HWC and the loss of human lives.
Shifeta pointed out that the ministry’s officials in the regions are under instructions to give information and render services to communities and farmers in order to protect themselves from wild animals.
“We will continue to create innovative mechanisms to reduce the level of human-wildlife conflict, and to ensure that benefits of conservation management far outweigh the costs, and to build on the significant successes in managing such conflict situations,” he concluded.
