Botswana seeks to join over 20 African countries who are members of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC), (an international non-profit body that advocates biodiversity conservation through sustainable use of wildlife resources), President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said September 24, here during a courtesy call on CIC president Dr Phillipp Harmer.
President Masisi said Botswana would re-apply for membership of the organisation, whose policies were in sync with the country’s own with respect to sustainable management of wildlife.
Botswana’s argument and philosophy has always been that trophies not recklessly acquired should be rightfully viewed as managed economic products out of which communities should derive economic benefits for their own development as well as for the management of wildlife species themselves, he said.
He said for this reason, controlled hunting was necessary as it had, even in the pre-independence era, been used as an instrument for conservation, adding that controlled hunting had contributed to Botswana’s long standing history of good wildlife management.
“If you are committed to sustainability, if you are committed to the balance of nature and the homeostasis of species you have got to have a management of those, and hunting even in our times prior to independence has always been used as a very effective instrument of conservation,” he said.
He asked CIC to support the country as it continued to engage those against trophy hunting and the exportation of trophies Dr Harmer had earlier on, when welcoming President Masisi said that CIC believed in conservation for sustainable use.
“The CIC believes in conservation for sustainable use. CIC believes in human rights, we believe you cannot put the lives of animals over those of people,” he said, adding that every country should be allowed the freedom to manage its wildlife for the betterment of its own people. Commending Botswana for its prudent management of wildlife, he said it was imperative that the country strove to maintain a balance in biodiversity as a huge wildlife population could be harmful to the environment.
He said it was also pleasing that the Botswana government involved local communities in issues of wildlife management and conservation as this gave the people a sense of ownership of the resource, thereby allowing them to be valuable stakeholders in the overall management of wildlife and other natural resources.
Dr Harmer said the organisation presently had 28 member state and 84 delegates in 84 countries around the world.