WILDLIFE DRAFT POLICY GETS APPROVAL Members of Parliament have given the Draft Wildlife Policy thumbs up although some believe there is still room to improve Botswana’s tourism sector. Debating the proposed policy, the MP for Boteti North, the Honourable Slumber Tsogwane, called upon the Minister of Environment Wildlife and Tourism to beef up staff at national parks so they could manage poaching and minimise killing of humans by wild animals. “The problem is not population growth since parks have always had boundaries which still exist to this day, the problem is the fact that wild animals have come closer to homesteads, because our parks have not been designed in a way that they can contain wild animals,” he said. Tsogwane urged the minister to renew fire breakers which have not been taken care of since they were created, adding that the dilapidated fire breaks posed disaster should fires break out in these national parks. Letlhakeng West legislator, the Honourable Nkgaka Ngaka, said the minister should consider improving the 120km road from Letlhakeng to Khutse game reserve as this would attract more people to the game reserve, as well as improve the livelihoods of those living in villages along that road. The MP for Okavango, the Honourable Bagalatia Arone, said people living in his constituency were tormented by elephants such that they lost their properties and their lives. He said the eradication of foot and mouth disease in Ngamiland has also failed because of the presence of elephants, adding that there is no compensation for people killed by wild animals. He also noted that people who shared water sources with wild animals were in danger of contracting diseases. The Okavango legislator also said foreigners were benefiting from Botswana’s resources at the expense of citizens. Talking about human wildlife conflict, MP for Kweneng East, the Honourable Maj. Gen. Moeng Pheto, said agriculture was under threat in some parts of Botswana, leaving people without any source of income. He said it seemed the government was concerned about the lions and elephants although there were other wild animals that put the lives of people in danger. People receive little or no compensation for their crops destroyed by wild animals. General Pheto said the seven days given to launch a complaint was not enough as some people lived far from their farms. Kgalagadi North MP, the Honourable Philip Khwae, said people in Kgalagadi lost confidence in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism as they had requested for additional grazing land, but to their disappointment it was turned down. He said 67% of land in his constituency is reserved for wildlife management purposes, while 11% is freehold, leaving humans with a paltry 22%. He said this has made life difficult as they are surrounded by national parks and private farms, leaving them with little land for agriculture purposes. MP for Ngwaketse West, the Honourable Mephato Reatile, said a huge chunk of land has been marked a wildlife management area even though it did not have wild animals. He said the land should revert to the community. (BOPA)
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 13:44:09 +0000
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