Trophy hunting earns Nam R300m annually

Southern Times Writer

Windhoek — Namibia's trophy hunting industry is outperforming projections, earning the wildlife-rich southern African country R300 million annually in the past 10 years, President Hifikepunye Pohamba has said.

In a speech read on his behalf by Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture Minister Willem Konjore, at a symposium for the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities in Windhoek on Tuesday President Pohamba said trophy hunting was now a major contributor to the national economy.

"Income and other benefits such as jobs and training that are derived from wildlife conservation and tourism in communal areas are contributing to combating poverty and improving the living conditions of our people," he told the symposium attended by wildlife experts from around the world.

The symposium which ran from Tuesday to Thursday — was held under the theme "The ecological and Economic Benefits of Hunting."

Namibia, he said, had been successful in positioning itself as a model for sustainable, fair-chase trophy hunting, and had become one of the most popular trophy hunting destinations in southern Africa.

"This is due in part to the social and political stability prevailing in the country, a well developed infrastructure, the relative ease with which hunting rifles may be temporarily imported into Namibia and the friendliness and warm hospitality of our people."

Key also, Pohamba said, was the country's scientifically based land-use and game-management policies which had created abundant and healthy populations of game.

"This success has been based on devolving rights over wildlife to freehold and communal area land holders. By giving the land holders rights to use wildlife and benefit from it, government has provided incentives for conservation.

"This is based on the fact that in Namibia, 80 percent of wildlife is found outside protected areas, and wildlife is increasing on communal lands. A strong wildlife industry has, therefore, been created.

"Together with tourism, it has become a major contributor to the national economy.

"The latest statistics show that trophy hunting in Namibia steadily generates revenues of approximately N$300million per annum, representing nearly 2,3 percent of the Gross domestic Product.

"To put these values into perspective, it is necessary to note that our hunting industry's revenue grew by 12 percent annually over the past 10 years. This considerably outpaced the goal of seven percent annual growth that was set in Vision 2030."

He said his government and the Namibian Professional Hunting Association continued to focus on the successful conservation of wildlife and wild habitat in Namibia by promoting ethical, selective and fair-chase sustainable trophy hunting.

"Our wildlife is an important natural resource. We have proved that it has the potential to develop into one of the country's most valuable renewable assets if managed properly through game ranching and utilised sustainably through fee-based trophy hunting."

However, a wildlife expert in Namibia Marina Lamprecht warned at the symposium that the trophy hunting in Namibia and elsewhere was being severely affected by the global economic contraction.

"A longer-term threat is the gradual attrition in numbers of recreational hunters in much of Europe and the USA," she said.