Botswana inde midt i det sydlige Afrika gør nu op med jægere, der i dyre domme køber sig tilladelse til at skyde landets eftertragtede storvildt, for naturen og dens dyr er allerede hårdt ramt – elefantsafaris ligesom hvalsafaris.
Botswana will ban commercial hunting from January 2014 over growing concerns about the sharp decline in wildlife species, writes BBC online Thursday.
Designated hunting zones will be turned into “photographic areas”.
As much as a third of the global elephant population lives in Botswana. Recent estimates place the number at about 130.000.
The ban, set to come into place on 1 January, could pose a threat to local communities, in particular bushmen, for whom hunting is a means to survive.
Furthermore, selling hunting licences to wealthy Westerners is an extremely lucrative business, with a license for shooting an elephant costing up to 30.000 US dolllar.
Hunting concessions currently exist in the northern Okavango Delta and the parks of the Kalahari region, famous for its upmarket safari lodges.
According to the environment ministry, the government will continue to issue special game licences “for traditional hunting by some local communities within designated wildlife management areas”.
Due to its seasonal nature, hunting has only contributed a minimal amount to the tourism sector, which ranks second to the diamond industry in terms of its revenue earnings.
“The ideal scenario would be that it has a similar effect to the ban on whaling 20 years ago,” the spokesman, Adrian Hiel for the International Fund for Animal Welfare told the BBC.
“Whale watching is now proven to be more sustainable and profitable than hunting and killing the animals”, he noted according to BBC.
