Namibia gets N$92 million for human-wildlife conflict
WINDHOEK – The Namibian government, through the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, has received N$92 million for human-wildlife conflict management from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Tuesday, UNDP country representative Alka Bhatia said the money, facilitated through the Global Environment Facility, is geared towards a fiveyear integrated approach project to proactively manage human-wildlife conflict and wildlife crime.
Bhatia noted that UNDP's partnership with Namibia is a timely intervention to address environmental challenges and threats to the planet and people.
She said the viability of the entire conservation effort in Namibia has been challenged by the impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020, and mitigation measures have brought the ecotourism sector to a standstill, affecting the ability of wildlife management to effectively address both human-wildlife conflict and wildlife crime.
“The project aims to manage, prevent and mitigate human- wildlife conflict and combat wildlife crime, as well as protect the wildlife population and build a wildlife-based economy to promote co-existence between wildlife and people,” she stated.
Ministry of environment executive director Teofilus Nghitila said the project is targeting national priorities within the Fifth National Development Plan to identify human-wildlife conflict and wildlife crime as twin challenges to the conservation of wildlife requiring management and adaptation.
He indicated that 2020/21 statistics show a decline in wildlife crime, particularly with regard to elephant and rhino poaching, as well as human-wildlife conflictrelated damages such as losses of livestock and damage to crop fields caused by wild animals.
Highlighting the statistics, he said 14 rhinos were poached in 2021, compared to 33 rhinos in 2020 and 54 in 2019, whilst five elephants have been poached in 2021 so far, compared to 12 elephants in 2020 and 12 in 2019.
“The project is Namibia's commitment to work with other countries and international partners in wildlife conservation and the combating of wildlife crime. Through the programme, we look forward to exchange lessons from other nations with similar challenges,” he added.