Khama's speech on man and animals
Ian Khama | Tuesday February 18, 2014 13:53
I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sympathies with those of this nation who have been experiencing hardships as a result of severe weather conditions that have caused misery and suffering and extensive damage to infrastructure in many parts of the United Kingdom.
There will be those who will claim this is as a result of climate change.
This may well be.
It is obviously a phenomenon brought about by industrialisation around the globe, which threatens the environment of this planet.
Similarly we are gathered here today to also reflect and hopefully address another phenomenon of us humans negative impact on this planet. The destruction of wildlife.
It is our responsibility as world leaders to protect our natural environment, not just the large 'iconic species', like elephants and rhinoceros and tigers and whales, but also the smallest microorganisms, as all life is equally important and interlinked. We are all far too aware of the numerous species that have become extinct, even in our own lifetimes.
The world is now far more aware of what is happening and what we need to do to stop this unsustainable trend and the need to act now.
The problem of poaching and the illegal wildlife trade is a worldwide problem. It is being driven by well organised international criminals who are only concerned with profit.
This drive for greed has far reaching consequences which has raised the already high level of corruption throughout the illegal wildlife trade value chain in Africa and Asia.
We must combat this corruption and be held accountable in reversing this pillage. Human Wildlife Conflict is also a major problem and concern throughout the world and another excuse to kill wild animals.
We need to demonstrate the benefits of having wildlife close to populations that are in such areas and how people can directly benefit from that situation.
We also need to educate our people on how we can coexist with fauna and flora. It is with this in mind that it is out of great concern that I have heard of the decision by the Government of Western Australia recently to capture and kill sharks as a measure to protect people when they go swimming.
If indeed this decision is implemented, then it goes against our responsibility as Governments whether national or provincial to conserve our planet and its natural resources from further decline.
Considering that the sea is the natural habitat for sharks with people going into the sea for recreational purposes it then begs the question as to why we as human beings should resort to destroying wild creatures for our selfish interests.
It does not make much sense for recreation to take precedence over conservation of those innocent creatures. A similar situation of co-existence obtains in my own country, Botswana, where there is a large population of elephants whose natural habitat is the same as the people, the land.
People have had to co-exist with elephants in spite of the fact that elephants tend to raid crops and homes, and sometimes with people losing lives in the process.
Despite these challenges, people being the intelligent beings take the initiative and take precautions as they do realise the importance of elephants to the natural environment.
What is important therefore, is educating people and coming up with strategies aimed at mitigating human/wildlife conflict as we are doing in our country.
In the past some of our people used to consider the only option was to kill such wildlife. It could be argued they were justified to do so because they shared the same space with elephants, unlike sharks and people.
But today we value all the creatures we are endowed with.
That is why from the beginning of this year we in Botswana have issued a ban on the hunting of all species of wildlife.
People's lives are precious and they should be protected. But the answer to the threat on people’s lives and the protection thereof surely cannot leave us with only one option, that of killing. As to this conference there has been a great deal of work done over the past years and some very good decisions have been made, however these decisions have not always been fully implemented.
I am talking about plans like the African Elephant Action Plan which was agreed to in 2010.
This plan is very comprehensive and if totally implemented would go a very long way in addressing the African Elephant problem.
Our own African Elephant Summit, which was held in Botswana in December 2013, agreed to 14 urgent measures which support the African Elephant Action Plan also needs to be implemented. What has to happen now is for us to work together to implement these actions and plans and initiatives and not put them on a shelf somewhere and left to gather dust.
We do however fully understand that in other areas of the world there are equal challenges as far as the illegal wildlife trade is concerned.
We must unite and work together to eliminate this criminal trade. I look forward therefore to this conference’s discussions and resolutions on this important matter that I hope will lead to positive outcomes very soon.