Mmegi

UK showdown exposes urgent need for CBNRM law

To the streets: Members of community trusts that live alongside wildlife recently marched in Gaborone, asserting their rights to earn value from the country’s natural resources 
PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
To the streets: Members of community trusts that live alongside wildlife recently marched in Gaborone, asserting their rights to earn value from the country’s natural resources PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

Experts have said the showdown in the Westminster over hunting is exposing the urgent need to transform the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) policy into a law, a call that has been repeatedly made over the last decade.

CBNRM is a conservation-based development approach that recognises that natural resources coexist with people who rely on them for their subsistence.

A CBNRM Act would have been a powerful tool in the arguments presented by the communities who spent this week in London lobbying the House of Commons and the House of Lords on the anti-hunting bill being considered by the UK. Professor Brian Child who specialises on inclusive wildlife economy, which emphasises involving rural people through CBNRM, explains the critical importance of CBNRM.

Editor's Comment
Don't let FMD outbreak drag on

Acting Agriculture Minister, Edwin Dikoloti, is right in saying opening an export-ready facility whilst Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is still spreading would risk getting the whole country blacklisted before a single carcass leaves the door.A ban like that would break the already stressed nation. So, the postponement, painful as it is, is the right thing to do. The local economy is being squeezed from both ends. FMD has already slammed the door...

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