Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
these is the proposed extraction of water from the Okavango River to supply the growing
needs of Namibia. One such proposal is the construction of a 1250km-long pipeline from
the Okavango River to Namibia's capital, Windhoek, which first reared its head in 1997
and has grown and faltered in fits and starts since.
In 1994 Botswana, Namibia and Angola signed the
Okavango River Basin Commis-
sion
(Okacom;
www.okacom.org
)
, aimed at coordinating the sustainable management of
the delta's waters. Although the commission has high principles, the practicalities on the
ground are far from simple and the process of moving towards a sustainable management
plan and eventual treaty has been very slow. As Angola, the basin state where 95% of the
water flow originates, settles into its first period of peace in some 30 years, it is hoped that
the pace will accelerate.
THE HUNTING DEBATE
Hunting in Africa has, in recent times, largely operated in the shadows of international attention, which may be
why there was such a commotion when Spain's King Juan Carlos I injured himself while on a hunting trip to Bot-
swana in early 2011. Pictures soon emerged of the king standing alongside an elephant he had shot on a previous
hunting trip to Botswana. Leaving aside for a moment the fact that the king was at the time the honorary president
of the Spanish chapter of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the episode both cast an uncomfortable spotlight on
the industry and brought to the fore one of the most contentious issues in African conservation.
While it is abhorrent to many conservationists, some recognise that controlled hunting can play an important
part in preserving species. If we can distil the argument in favour of hunting to its essence, it would be as follows.
Tourism revenues (whether national park fees or lodge revenues) sometimes fail to reach local communities, rein-
forcing a perception that wildlife belongs to the government. Hunting on private concessions, however, generally
attracts massive fees (lion licences sold for US$20,000 before the 2001 ban), of which, the theory goes, a signific-
ant proportion is fed back into local community projects, thereby giving wildlife a tangible economic value for
local people. If controlled strictly - through the use of quotas and killing only a limited number of solitary male
lions who are past their prime, for example - hunting can, according to its proponents (including many in the con-
servation community), play a part in saving species from extinction.
At the same time, opponents of hunting argue that the whole debate is premised on the failure of governments
and private operators to fairly redistribute their revenues from nonlethal forms of tourism - why, they ask, should
we expect that hunting be any different? They also argue that the solution lies in a fairer distribution of tourism
revenues and greater community involvement in conservation rather than in killing the very animals upon which
tourism depends. And finally, some critics point to the double standards of arresting and imprisoning locals who
hunt wildlife (whether for commercial or subsistence reasons), while permitting rich (and usually white) hunters
to shoot animals during short visits to the continent.
The debate continues.
