500 to wage war on poachers
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism announced this week that it has started the process of hiring a prospective candidate to head the country’s anti-poaching unit, while about 500 people will be employed to help fight elephant and rhino poachers.
While Namibia has started the process of recruitment to fill positions for its national anti-poaching unit, the country lacks at least half the resources that are required to face a serious and escalating poaching threat. This includes financial resources, manpower and equipment.
The Director of Wildlife and Parks, Colgar Sikopo, confirmed that the position for the deputy director for wildlife protection services, who will head the anti-poaching unit, has been advertised.
According to Sikopo, the ministry is currently in the process of selecting the appropriate candidate. He said the anti-poaching unit will be a new division that will be created within in the ministry, and other vital positions will be filled soon. Sikopo further confirmed that the Draft National Strategy on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement 2016 to 2020 was discussed at a closed session this week with leaders from Namibia’s conservancies during the Conservancies Chairperson Forum.
The primary objective of the strategy is to establish within the country, common approaches for the protection and conservation of wildlife and to ensure the effective enforcement of laws governing the wildlife resources. The specific objectives of the strategy will be to protect wildlife from poaching, promote enforcement of wildlife laws in the country and with neighbouring states and ensure that field staff including community game guards are conversant with patrols, arrests, seizures and proper collection of scene of the crime information. It will also aim to strengthen law enforcement activities and better prepare the ministry against syndicates of wildlife poaching.
The strategy which is currently in its draft stage identifies severe shortcomings and states that at national level, the resources in terms of financial allocations, equipment and manpower in Namibia are currently less than half if not a third of what would be required to tackle a serious and escalating poaching threat in Namibia. The country has experienced unprecedented levels of poaching with 24 rhinos having been poached in 2014 and 80 last year.
This year, 34 rhino carcases have already been discovered so far.
Furthermore, 91 elephants were poached in the north-eastern region in 2015, compared to 78 in 2014, while by March this year seven elephants had been poached.
The document says that Namibia needs to be well prepared to deal with threats to its rhino and elephant populations and other wildlife species in the light of recent trends elsewhere in Africa and particularly those in neighbouring countries.
It explains that the syndicates operating in Namibia involves foreigners who are well linked to middlemen in the country who in turn use local communities as poachers who have good knowledge of the areas. “Wildlife crime in Namibia has reached a new quality of violence and an enhanced frequency of incidences. Well-organised gangs enter vulnerable areas, crime syndicates organise the trafficking of horns and tusks through complex networks leading to foreign markets.
If the current syndicate based wildlife crime is not brought under control, it will trigger a vicious cycle which results in enhanced rural poverty.” However, very few staff members have experience in dealing with well-armed gangs and as a result few would be prepared to follow up and attempt to arrest gangs that may be equipped with automatic firearms.
Key organisations involved in wildlife protection lack resources and management processes to effectively deal with the crisis and to timely act on emergency situations.
It points out that low presence on the ground and insufficient capacities in information analysis as well as intelligence cause weak crime prevention.
According to Shikopo communities have a role to play in stopping poaching and it is aimed to provide a well-established trained and equipped community game guard system in conservancies to complement the Anti-Poaching Unit.
ELLANIE SMIT
While Namibia has started the process of recruitment to fill positions for its national anti-poaching unit, the country lacks at least half the resources that are required to face a serious and escalating poaching threat. This includes financial resources, manpower and equipment.
The Director of Wildlife and Parks, Colgar Sikopo, confirmed that the position for the deputy director for wildlife protection services, who will head the anti-poaching unit, has been advertised.
According to Sikopo, the ministry is currently in the process of selecting the appropriate candidate. He said the anti-poaching unit will be a new division that will be created within in the ministry, and other vital positions will be filled soon. Sikopo further confirmed that the Draft National Strategy on Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement 2016 to 2020 was discussed at a closed session this week with leaders from Namibia’s conservancies during the Conservancies Chairperson Forum.
The primary objective of the strategy is to establish within the country, common approaches for the protection and conservation of wildlife and to ensure the effective enforcement of laws governing the wildlife resources. The specific objectives of the strategy will be to protect wildlife from poaching, promote enforcement of wildlife laws in the country and with neighbouring states and ensure that field staff including community game guards are conversant with patrols, arrests, seizures and proper collection of scene of the crime information. It will also aim to strengthen law enforcement activities and better prepare the ministry against syndicates of wildlife poaching.
The strategy which is currently in its draft stage identifies severe shortcomings and states that at national level, the resources in terms of financial allocations, equipment and manpower in Namibia are currently less than half if not a third of what would be required to tackle a serious and escalating poaching threat in Namibia. The country has experienced unprecedented levels of poaching with 24 rhinos having been poached in 2014 and 80 last year.
This year, 34 rhino carcases have already been discovered so far.
Furthermore, 91 elephants were poached in the north-eastern region in 2015, compared to 78 in 2014, while by March this year seven elephants had been poached.
The document says that Namibia needs to be well prepared to deal with threats to its rhino and elephant populations and other wildlife species in the light of recent trends elsewhere in Africa and particularly those in neighbouring countries.
It explains that the syndicates operating in Namibia involves foreigners who are well linked to middlemen in the country who in turn use local communities as poachers who have good knowledge of the areas. “Wildlife crime in Namibia has reached a new quality of violence and an enhanced frequency of incidences. Well-organised gangs enter vulnerable areas, crime syndicates organise the trafficking of horns and tusks through complex networks leading to foreign markets.
If the current syndicate based wildlife crime is not brought under control, it will trigger a vicious cycle which results in enhanced rural poverty.” However, very few staff members have experience in dealing with well-armed gangs and as a result few would be prepared to follow up and attempt to arrest gangs that may be equipped with automatic firearms.
Key organisations involved in wildlife protection lack resources and management processes to effectively deal with the crisis and to timely act on emergency situations.
It points out that low presence on the ground and insufficient capacities in information analysis as well as intelligence cause weak crime prevention.
According to Shikopo communities have a role to play in stopping poaching and it is aimed to provide a well-established trained and equipped community game guard system in conservancies to complement the Anti-Poaching Unit.
ELLANIE SMIT
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