Hunting Industry Contributes Unique Knowledge Legacy

Boniface Keakabetse | Monday June 20, 2016 15:30

This was said in a joint press statement by BWMA Secretary, Debbie Peake, a trophy dealer with Mochaba Development, and the University of Botswana’sOkavango Research Institute (ORI). The statement disclosed that  the information collected over a period of 15 years, will be transferred to ORI. The statement further said the information collected includes quotas, concession locations, and trophy measurements as well as biological specimens, which form an important piece of the knowledge legacy of sustainable and legal hunting in Botswana. BWMA is working with ORI library’s special collections unit to catalogue and transfer the materials and data to ORI’s library collections in Maun, and to a widely accessible online database, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) is providing guidance and advice to the project.

Peake said: “Our research results, records of wildlife sightings, and the biological data about herbivores and carnivores, can be put to use by scientists to better understand our animal populations, and by government to make sure wildlife continues to be managed well.” She further reiterated the Association’s strong feeling that the knowledge accumulated through the industry’s work in Botswana should support ongoing economic development of tourism in the country.” 

ORI Acting Deputy Director, Research Services and Training, Ketlhatlogile Mosepele, applauded the association’s commitment to preserving and sharing its knowledge resources, saying the information collected by the hunting industry contains unique and irreplaceable data that, when analysed by scientists, can be used for the sustainable management of wildlife in our country.

“We are delighted that the BWMA’s records can find a home in our library archives here in Maun, where the safari industry in Botswana started.”

The project is supported by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an international network of government bodies set up to inform better decisions to conserve and sustainably use the biological resources of the planet.  GBIF was funded by the European Union.  GBIF allows anyone, anywhere to access data about all types of life on earth, shared across national boundaries via the Internet. In 2014 government imposed a moratorium on hunting in Botswana; visitors to the country are now exclusively capturing their wild animal encounters through photography. Some companies had to make a transition from safari hunting to operating photographic camps.