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From: NitroExpressCom (Original Message) Sent: 4/27/2002 4:44 AM
Business News: Cresta Calling—Hunting the hunter, part four

By Shingi Munyeza
RECENTLY, while driving from Francistown to Kasane in Botswana, I and my companions came across an elephant which had been knocked over by a haulage truck. The jumbo was still alive but could not get up while the haulage truck had come to rest off the road. The truck could not move and the elephant could not move—a true clash of titans.

As we stopped to witness this deadlock, I wondered how these kind of animals could possibly survive in our current civilisation? Preservation of our wildlife is key to the growth and development of our tourism industry. Tourists from all over the world come to our country mainly for the game experience rather than for the comfort of our hotels. My experience of seeing a hopelessly wounded jumbo made me wonder whether we have too much wildlife and if so how we can possibly cull them without threatening their existence.

Zimbabwe has had a very successful programme funded by USAid called Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire).
This programme has gone a very long way towards helping us to manage our wildlife resources amongst other natural resources which Zimbabwe has been endowed with. Overcrowding of wildlife has also been addressed through sustainable means instead of through poaching which has been on the increase of late.

However, allegations have been thrown at programmes such as Campfire to the effect that they have been hijacked by a handful of slick academics for the benefit of the international, rather than local, communities. One could argue for and against this viewpoint, particularly given the heated debates that go on at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (Cites). Africans argue that the rest of the world must leave the management of wildlife to Africans whilst the rest of the world has a different view.

The Upper Zambezi Valley has a ballooning population of elephants, a situation which has resulted in lives being lost and crops being destroyed. The communities in the Upper Zambezi region appreciate the reduction in the elephant population. Not only have the elephants been destructive to both lives and crops, but they continue to destroy vegetation in the region.

Culling the elephant will not only result in less destruction but in more revenue generation through the sale of ivory. Because the sale of ivory has resulted in poaching and uncontrolled culling, a debate has raged at the recent three Cites conventions as to whether the elephant should be listed in Appendix 1 or Appendix 2.

Kenya has become one of the most vocal critics of the sale of ivory by three southern African countries—Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, and has persistently objected to the de-listing of the African elephant from a highly endangered species to that whose population can be managed.

The last Cites meeting in Gigiri, Kenya, in April 2000 saw the Nairobi government supporting a total ban on the controlled sale of ivory. It was joined by western environmental pressure groups such as Green Peace. South Africa, which also wants to sell some of its stock piles of ivory, joined its neighbours in a bruising battle to keep the elephant in Appendix 2 to allow for monitored trade of ivory.

Therefore, the debate on the elephant and its status within Cites, has consequences for both the local community and the hunter.

As highlighted last week, the elephant commands the highest trophy price of US$10 000, making it the most favoured prey for the hunter. It is therefore imperative to maintain an ecological equilibrium between the hunter, the hunted and the community. Then on the other side you have animal rights activists who are seeking an end to hunting as a sport. This then leaves us confused; the hunter does not want to come and hunt due to security issues, the hunted is destroying the environment and communities whilst the community is poaching the hunted! Join me next week as I discuss the impact of poaching and hunting concessions.
• Shingi Munyeza is the Group Commercial Director for Cresta Hospitality.

http://www.mweb.co.zw/standard/index.php?id=4236&pubdate=2002-02-03

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