Thanks SCI, SCI Foundation, FACE, and the Namibian government! I suspect that your efforts (noted below) played a major role in the European Union and Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora's Scientific Review Group's "positive opinion" regarding the importation of both lion and elephant into the EU. Well done ladies and gentlemen!

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First For Hunters Blog (March 17, 2016)

SCI and SCI Foundation Team with FACE and the Namibian Government to Fight Anti-hunting Prejudice in Europe

On January 26, 2016, SCI, SCI Foundation and the European Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation (FACE), joined forces to organize an event for the European Union (EU) Parliament, with the participation of the EU Intergroup on Biodiversity, Hunting and Countryside (Hunting Intergroup). The event, entitled “Wildlife: Use It Or Lose It,” was held in the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, and focused on the role of hunting in community-based conservation in Africa. SCI, SCI Foundation and FACE facilitated the Namibian Minister of Environment and Tourism, the Honorable Pohamba Shifeta, to speak at the very well-attended event. The Minister gave a compelling presentation about the importance of community-based conservation in his country and provided numerous examples of the successes of Namibia’s hunting program. SCI, represented by Anna Seidman, SCI Director of Litigation, followed the Minister with a presentation that offered additional examples of effective community-based conservation programs in Zimbabwe and Zambia. SCI’s discussion also contrasted those successes with information about how the loss of hunting in Botswana in 2014 is already undermining that country’s wildlife conservation. The IUCN, represented by Dan Challender, presented a talk on “Sustainable Use and Livelihoods in Local Communities.”

While in Brussels, SCI also joined FACE representatives, the Namibian Minister and his delegation to make personal visits to the permanent representations of key European countries. Chip Burkhalter, SCI Director of Government Relations, accompanied the Namibian delegation to advocate against EU actions that could undermine successful African range-country conservation programs.

SCI, SCI Foundation and FACE organized this event primarily to help educate the EU about the importance of community-based conservation. We also wanted to introduce EU decision-makers to the perspective of African range nations who are responsible for and depend upon managed hunting programs to conserve species and enhance local participation in wildlife conservation. It was our intention to inform the EU Parliament and other representatives in anticipation of upcoming CITES decision-making scheduled to take place in the months leading up to the CITES Conference of the Parties that will be held in South Africa later this year.

The timing of the event and meetings coincided with the introduction of a Written Declaration proposed by anti-hunters designed to severely undermine international hunting and importation of legally hunted animals into EU member countries. The proposal calls upon the EU Council and Commission to “to examine the possibility of restricting all trophy imports” based on groundless concern about the impact of well-regulated hunting on the conservation of wildlife. The proposal will fail unless its proponents obtain signatures from a majority of the over 700 members of the EU Parliament. SCI, SCI Foundation and FACE took advantage of the timing of the Hunting Intergroup’s event to discourage EU Parliament members from signing on to the senseless and flawed document.

SCI’s efforts to fight anti-hunting ignorance and prejudice in Europe will continue through further collaborations with FACE and other European hunting advocacy groups. In addition, SCI, SCI Foundation and FACE will continue to make every effort to bring the perspective of African range nations to European decision-makers and to promote the importance of community-based conservation to make sure that EU policy makers and the EU’s CITES delegation understand the direct implications of the decisions that they make regarding international hunting and importation.

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"Welcome to the new Africa - Where no good deed goes unpunished"