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By Kerry Hayes

The government of Botswana is at a crossroads on the opportunity to lift the ban on elephant hunting imposed in 2014 or leave it in place.

A report by the Cabinet Subcommittee on Social Dialogue on the Ban on Hunting, commissioned by Botswana President Mokgweetsi, Eric Keabetswe Masisi, recommended that the ban be lifted under certain conditions. These included:

• Develop a legal framework to manage slaughter within its historical range.

• For the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to put in place an effective community program to facilitate peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants, including fences strategically placed in key areas of elephant activity. by human beings.

• Compensation is paid for elephant-damaged property and crops.

• The closure of some migration routes that are not beneficial to the country's conservation efforts.

• introduce a regular but limited reform of elephants and the canning of elephant meat, including the production of pet food and its processing into by-products.

The conservation community has sparked a powerful outcry, prompting a worldwide petition to prevent the lifting of the ban on hunting, suggesting that the lifting of the ban would "favor and fund a series of measures aimed at to drastically and aggressively reduce the population of elephants ". the national protected areas of the country, which alone are home to 37% of the African elephant population.

The report presents two opposing schools of thought:

Proponents of the prohibition to hunt postulate that it is a good and noble conservation effort that will create an environment conducive to the growth of animal populations wild.

Those who oppose the prohibition to hunt are of the opinion that hunting is a good wildlife management tool, if properly implemented.

Masisi was adamant in the comments of the media and social media on the fact that he would not be intimidated by international pressure to maintain the prohibition to hunt. "I gave them elephants and they are welcome to help us reduce their population. I will not be intimidated by the wildlife that kills our people, "he tweeted.

However, the president fears that Botswana's public opinion about Botswana's reputation as an ecotourism destination is tainted by what ban-raising advocates call a "bloodbath", warning the government, a destination heavily invested in the photographic industry, then transforms the iconic global symbols into pet food and could be subject to international condemnation that would eventually have a negative impact on tourism in the country.

Dr. Andrew Muir, CEO of the Wilderness Foundation Africa, told Tourism Update that the mixed message of promoting Botswana as a photographic tourism destination to a hunting tourism destination could be problematic.

"The two can not coexist. That would worry me about conservation and perception issues. My other concern is that you have explained to the world why you are doing this for conservation and continue to do it – are you saying that species have recovered to such an extent that you can actually justify a hunt? sustainable? And what worries me is that the decimation of the species in the whole of Africa, with the predictions of mbadive extinction for Africa, how can it be justified in Botswana? We must take into account what is happening on the continent and on the continent, the poaching of wildlife in large numbers. My question is this: do we have enough sustainability to justify hunting beyond poaching? "

The government must balance the lifting of the ban on hunting to win votes against the impact that this could have on Botswana's international reputation as a luxury safari destination.

Botswana is home to 130,000 elephants – a third of the total number in Africa – which, according to reports, exceeds the threshold of the country where elephants and local human populations will begin to encroach on their respective habitats. "Elephants can be destructive when they invade farmland and move to villages, destroying crops and sometimes killing people," said a BBC report. existence is paramount, added the report of the Subcommittee. – Tourism update