http://allafrica.com/stories/201604120530.html



Zimbabwe: Govt, EU Clash Over Trophy Hunting

By Samantha Chigogo



Government is against the European Union's call to ban the importation of trophies hunted from Zimbabwe saying the move has major repercussions on the country's economy, a Cabinet Minister has said.

This comes as Zimbabwe is severely affected by the ban on trophy hunting in the region.

The ban was imposed after the killing of Cecil the Lion by an American dentist Walter Palmer.

Addressing delegates at a stakeholders' conference on code of ethics in safari hunting in Zimbabwe yesterday, Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said the proposed ban was a setback to the country's hunting industry.



"The USA imposed a ban on trophies hunted from our region and as we speak, the EU Parliament intends to move a motion to ban the importation of trophies hunted from Zimbabwe," she said.

"These machinations have far-reaching consequences, perpetuating negative perception of Zimbabwe's hunting industry. From this meeting, the emphasis is on community benefits and participation, as we try to lobby the EU. It is important that we clearly point out the losses that the communities will incur if sport hunting is banned."

Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri blamed Western countries for their continuous scrutiny of Zimbabwe's environmental policies.

"It is no secret that the world's eyes are upon Zimbabwe, scrutinising each and every step we make in an effort to point out our wrong-doings in the wildlife industry," she said.

"We need to deliberate how best we can work together and speak with one voice to engage the EU and USA, in the process correcting the negative perception of our wildlife," Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said.

The Minister further said trophy hunting and wildlife movement were important in curbing the negative impacts of drought in the country.


"In light of the drought that has been induced by the El-Nino phenomenon, there is need to move wildlife from one area to another in order to reduce pressure on the ecosystem," she said.

"However, before such measures, there is need to work together to ensure transparency.

"All translocations have to be done with the approval of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and I urge all those intending to do so to inform the Parks Authority of the numbers involved."

She said the nation should strive hard to conduct the hunting business in a lawful manner saying illegal movements could result in losses to both the wildlife ranchers and the country's economy.

"Not only does hunting and wildlife ranching benefit the individual players, but has far reaching benefits to the lives of the most vulnerable citizens who are in communities around wildlife areas," Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said.

"This therefore implores us to ensure that our actions and activities do not compromise the most vital stakeholder in the industry because any negative impact results in loss of benefits to these communities and mean loss of value of wildlife to them, a situation that will lead to increased conflict and poaching."

https://www.newera.com.na/2016...-eu-trophy-ban-plan/



Locals take on EU over trophy ban plan
April 8, 2016

by Fifi Rhodes

Windhoek

Zambezi Regional Governor Lawrence Sampofu has called for support against threats from European countries that plan to lobby for a ban on imports of trophy hunting products into the European Union (EU) – an activity that netted Namibia N$18 million last year.

Sampofu said revenue generated from trophy hunting is used to pay the salaries of community game guards, for the cost of managing wildlife, and to provide benefits to poor rural families.

Echoing Sampofu’s sentiments the representatives of 15 conservancies in the Zambezi Region, who wrote to the European parliament, said if the EU was truly committed to wildlife conservation they would have engaged them to further investigate the evidence that demonstrates how hunting has played a critical role in conservation, rather than threatening it.

Representatives of the 15 conservancies stated: “We have secured positive conservation, not only in our region, but also to the benefit of surrounding countries in the vast 500 000 square kilometer area of the KAZA conservation area, where there is both the largest elephant population in Africa and the largest conservation area on the continent.”

“We humbly suggest that our voices and experience are listened to in a situation that has no simplistic and single solutions, and would welcome the opportunity to directly engage with the European parliament in any way possible in order to allow our voices to be heard.”

The members said the debate around trophy hunting (or as they prefer to call it, “conservation hunting’) and the conservation of wildlife, particularly of elephants in Africa, have often not taken into account the experiences of those in the local communities who have over a period of more than 25 years found ways in which both people and wildlife can prosper.

“We feel that any consideration of a ban on trophy hunting products by European countries on behalf of their citizens should also consider the knowledge, experience and likely impacts on citizens, such as ourselves in Namibia, who have freely chosen over two decades to live with and promote the increase in wildlife, and to increase the land we allocate to wildlife. We have strong cultural and development needs that directly relate to wildlife and its sustainable use,” they stated.

“We have elected of our own choice to link wildlife conservation to our urgent local development and poverty reduction needs, and we have created democratic decision making processes here in Zambezi from households to our elected conservancy leadership, and we work in open partnership with our government and others to make conservation succeed.

“We believe we have been successful in linking development, democracy and the conservation of our wildlife, to deliver improved livelihoods for our people, together with a higher status for our wildlife,” the group further stated. The representatives said much of this progress depends on their ability to continue to choose options, like trophy hunting, in conservation and development.

“If we are denied this choice we do not have viable alternative uses of wildlife or incomes to replace them, and the large majority of the conservancies in our region will fail. Conservation and local development would then depend on external aid and charity – and we have not spent the past two decades working to become beggars.”

“This is neither to our benefit, nor do we think to the benefit of those in Europe or elsewhere, who seek to support either elephants, conservation or development in rural Africa. Nor does it indicate that democratic choices, involving those like us who pay the greatest costs, or achieve the clearest progress in conservation or development, is being respected,” their media statement further read.

Meanwhile, NACSO (the Namibian Association of Community-based Natural Resource Management Support Organisations) notes and supports the position of Sampofu, taken in his letter to members of the European parliament (MEPs), urging them to investigate how hunting has secured conservation in the region, and not threatened it.

NACSO director Maxi Louis said the organisation is fully committed to supporting Namibian communal conservancies and regional conservancy associations in their opposition to any ban on the importation of hunting trophies to the EU.

To date, Kunene Regional Community Conservancy Association, representing 29 conservancies, 15 Zambezi Region conservancies, and the Kyaramacan Association, representing residents in Bwabwata National Park, have all written letters to MEPs, and conservancies in Kunene South and Erongo are currently writing letters in opposition to any proposed ban.

NACSO said it fully supports the position of the Namibian government in its opposition to a ban on the importation of hunting trophies to the EU, on the grounds that this would damage the Namibian economy and conservation efforts. Louis said NACSO is actively engaging with EU ambassadors in Namibia to inform them of the risks of any ban.

Maybe these Africa countries need to not jump on the anti's side if they want to continue to enjoy the revenue from sport hunting.

This is the very same minister, newly appointed into her position, who said they were going to "arrest the American poacher,and extradite him to Zimbabwe " involved in the shooting of Cecil.. Before gathering all the necessary facts.

The sooner they realize and accept the wildlife industry is in a complete shambles due to their very own failed policies and corrupt greedy officials, maybe , and only maybe then will we get ourselves back on track to be the leaders in conservation on the African continent we were once so proud to be.

quote:

Originally posted by Zimbabwe Wildlife Conservation:
This is the very same minister, newly appointed into her position, who said they were going to "arrest the American poacher,and extradite him to Zimbabwe " involved in the shooting of Cecil.. Before gathering all the necessary facts.

The sooner they realize and accept the wildlife industry is in a complete shambles due to their very own failed policies and corrupt greedy officials, maybe , and only maybe then will we get ourselves back on track to be the leaders in conservation on the African continent we were once so proud to be.

Par for the course!

Mugabe is not going to appoint any intelligent person into a position of responsibility!

And to get back to reality, Europe has to stop dictating to other countries what they should and should not do.

Earlier quote by Norwegian:

However; AR is not reaching the people that should read this report. Any plans of making this more public on Facebook etc ? Sending it to journalist that you trust will make a serious and neutral article based on this ?

One thought that came up - just some loud thinking; would it be a good idea to make a web page and facebook page ( like DAPU ), but in general where several outfitters from different African countries participate with reports like this ?

Earlier quote by Cajun:

Since DSC and SCI are financially supporting many successful wildlife conservation initiatives (including Rio Save Safari Coutada 9, DAPU, etc.), perhaps they should expand their respective websites to include a section where these success stories can be shared with both the hunting and non-hunting communities. I suspect that many non-hunters access the DSC and SCI websites in an effort to obtain a better understanding of sustainable hunting and it's role in wildlife conservation. In addition to showcasing successful anti-poaching initiatives, they could also include relevant documentation such as NAPHA's recently released Position Paper entitled "The Importance of Hunting towards Conservation".

Earlier quote by Norwegian:

Agree - I hope someone with relationship to these organizations discuss the idea with them. We should promote " some electronic place out there " with science statements/reports, blog articles like the Duckworths have made here, Dapu etc etc...

***

The IUCN's Briefing Paper (see earlier post) is an excellent pro sustainable hunting document that should be included within a hunting industry (SCI or DSC?) initiated and maintained "electronic depository". Without such a depository, how do we reach the non-hunting community? In the meantime, we hunters will continue "preaching to the choir". IMO

quote:

Originally posted by Zimbabwe Wildlife Conservation:
This is the very same minister, newly appointed into her position, who said they were going to "arrest the American poacher,and extradite him to Zimbabwe " involved in the shooting of Cecil.. Before gathering all the necessary facts.
.

She is also the same minister that threw another American under the bus by naming him as "possibly" poaching and breaking the law related to a lion hunt a few weeks prior to Cecil.

Wonder if the powers that be in ZANU PF can even connect the dots as to why foreign hunters and Forex is down.

Between Dan Ashe and Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri I feel for all you guys trying to make a living in Zimbabwe.

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:
http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downlo...ntrophyhuntingv1.pdf

Anton,

this is a good one ! Thanks a lot !

Morten

quote:

Originally posted by Cajun1956:
Earlier quote by Norwegian:

However; AR is not reaching the people that should read this report. Any plans of making this more public on Facebook etc ? Sending it to journalist that you trust will make a serious and neutral article based on this ?

One thought that came up - just some loud thinking; would it be a good idea to make a web page and facebook page ( like DAPU ), but in general where several outfitters from different African countries participate with reports like this ?

Earlier quote by Cajun:

Since DSC and SCI are financially supporting many successful wildlife conservation initiatives (including Rio Save Safari Coutada 9, DAPU, etc.), perhaps they should expand their respective websites to include a section where these success stories can be shared with both the hunting and non-hunting communities. I suspect that many non-hunters access the DSC and SCI websites in an effort to obtain a better understanding of sustainable hunting and it's role in wildlife conservation. In addition to showcasing successful anti-poaching initiatives, they could also include relevant documentation such as NAPHA's recently released Position Paper entitled "The Importance of Hunting towards Conservation".

Earlier quote by Norwegian:

Agree - I hope someone with relationship to these organizations discuss the idea with them. We should promote " some electronic place out there " with science statements/reports, blog articles like the Duckworths have made here, Dapu etc etc...

***

The IUCN's Briefing Paper (see earlier post) is an excellent pro sustainable hunting document that should be included within a hunting industry (SCI or DSC?) initiated and maintained "electronic depository". Without such a depository, how do we reach the non-hunting community? In the meantime, we hunters will continue "preaching to the choir". IMO

I will forward the article to someone here on AR and ask them to presnet it to some people.

Morten

http://en.starafrica.com/news/...hunting-imports.html



Botswana welcomes EU plan to ban trophy hunting imports

Posted by: APA Posted date : April 12, 2016 at 3:32 pm UTC


Botswana said on Tuesday that it welcomes the decision by the European Union (EU) Parliament to vote for a ban against hunting trophies entering the bloc.The minister of Environment, Tourism and Wildlife Tshekedi Khama said he had not been officially informed of the planned debate in the EU Parliament to adopt a motion to ban imported wildlife trophies into EU but said he was aware of such reports.

The EU Parliament is expected to vote on 18 April on whether to adopt the motion calling for the ban or not.

“They haven’t informed us officially and we are waiting to hear from them as to what exactly it is that they intend to achieve,” said Khama.

He said what the EU is doing is better than nothing. He observed that the EU has not done enough to help countries affected by poaching over the years.

“They should do more on poaching; for instance like the control of guns that are used by poachers.”

The minister said Botswana has been playing a critical role in anti-poaching in the continent adding that the EU has not done enough to help Botswana or Africa in their anti-poaching programmes.

“I think it is a welcome move; they should go all the way and see how best they can help in anti-poaching. We have never got any help from the EU to stop poaching in Botswana,” said Khama.