Mbangu proposes human-wildlife conflict reforms

Mbangu made this submission to the National Council on Monday while making his contribution to the national budget. “I seek the concurrence of this house, that the National Council calls for the granting of conservation hunting quotas, human-wildlife self-reliance schemes and payment for accidental death and injuries, crop damages and livestock losses to…

WINDHOEK, 17 MAY (NAMPA) – With human-wildlife conflicts on the increase, Rundu Urban Constituency councillor, Paulus Mbangu, wants such cases and their payments decentralised to the regional level to improve efficiency.

Mbangu made this submission to the National Council (NC) on Monday while making his contribution to the national budget.

He pointed to the 590 human-wildlife conflicts, 360 crop damage incidents, 206 livestock losses, 14 injuries to people and 10 cases of human lives lost due to crocodiles, hippo and elephant attacks recorded.

“I seek the concurrence of this house, that the National Council calls for the granting of conservation hunting quotas, human-wildlife self-reliance schemes and payment for accidental death and injuries, crop damages and livestock losses to be decentralised to the regional council,” Mbangu submitted.

In 2021, a total of 10 people died as a result of crocodile, hippo and elephant attacks, for which N.dollars one million was paid out to families for funeral assistance.

This translates into N.dollars 100 000 per case, which is baffling, according to the politician, as trophy hunting concessions are estimated at N.dollars 250 000 per elephant.

“The life of an elephant is more expensive than the life of a person. Lord have mercy and forgive the Minister as he doesn’t know what he is doing. We call for compensation to be increased to surpass that of an elephant,” he continued.

Meanwhile, he also pushed for the amendment of the payment policy for damages to crops, which is currently limited to damages caused only by elephants, buffaloes and hippos.

He wants the regulations to include all wildlife animals, including the serious birds and locusts.

He simultaneously lamented the budgetary allocations to the NC and the Environment ministry for the 2022/23 financial year (FY), saying it is minuscule when juxtaposed to the mammoth tasks the two institutions are tasked with.

Only N.dollars 40 million is reserved for the ministry’s development budget, while the rest is for operational expenditure.

“The 16 per cent overall decline in this budget compared to the 2021/2022 budget is worrisome, given the fact that the challenges have increased this year,” Mbangu said.

For the current FY, the environment ministry was allocated N.dollars 478 million, while the NC received 92 million.

(NAMPA)

MEM/HP/EK