By Bisola Adeyemo
Namibia government has launched a Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) and wildlife conservation management project to reduce the levels of poverty by generating economic benefits for communities from wildlife-related enterprises.
Speaking at the launch of the project, on Tuesday, Environment Ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila said (HWC) and wildlife crime are challenged to the country’s conservation of wildlife requiring management and adaptation, Xinhua news agency reports.
“Unfortunately, poverty in our rural areas remains a root cause of HWC and wildlife crime thus this project will target generating economic benefits for communities from wildlife related enterprises,” he said.
The project will focus on strengthening the capacities of conservancies, communal farmers and government agencies to more actively plan for, manage and monitor HWC and wildlife crime as well as strengthen the capacities of anti- poaching units and monitoring of high risk/high-value species.
According to Nghitila, the project which will stretch for the next five years is expected to help Namibia prevent and mitigate HWC and wildlife crime.