“Hunting is the perfect tool to assist developing nations to achieve a
higher level of development.” This statement by the president and
founder of the IWMC World Conservation Trust, Eugéne Lapointe, was made
at the first-ever symposium on the ‘Ecological and Economic Benefits of
Hunting’, held in Windhoek from14–17 September.
Minister of
Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, Willem Konjore, opened the
symposium on behalf of President Hifikepunye Pohamba, stating that
Namibia has created a strong wildlife industry that together with
tourism, has become a major contributor to the national economy. “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.”
Organised by the World Forum on the Future of Sport
Shooting Activities (WFSA), the symposium was attended by 60
representatives from 20 countries and included talks on topics such as
sustainable wildlife management, recreational hunting, trophy hunting
and conservation hunting. Generally, hunting is made out to be
uncivilised behaviour and its benefits are completely ignored, but at
the symposium, experts leading scientists, professionals and hunting
specialists redirected the focus to the benefits of hunting.
Director
of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Namibia, Chris Weaver, focused on
sustainable wildlife use as a catalyst to conservation and development
in Namibia’s communal conservancies. Chris discussed some of the
positive impacts of hunting on conservancies, which range from reduced
poaching, management plans, game translocation, conservation
contributions by safari operators, increased land under conservation,
enhanced effectiveness of national parks, and recovering game
populations.
Forms of wildlife utilisation in Namibia include
trophy hunting, own use hunting, shoot and sell, premium hunting, and
live game sales. In Namibia, trophy hunting alone generates revenue of
about N$300 million per year, representing nearly 2.3 per cent of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). (MvR)
