Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) is finalising a new Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) strategy featuring more intervention options, as the costs of compensation reached P100 million in the past four years, Mmegi has learnt.
DWNP director, Moemedi Batshabang, told Mmegi this week that for every pula paid out to affected victims of HWC, three more pula were used for administration. For the 2023-24 financial year, the Department paid out P25 million, but effectively P100 million was used to compensate farmers and other citizens for damages and losses.
“When there is a case, it has to be attended to by officers, driving around and there is also the whole administration process of paying,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting on sustainable wildlife management. “You have to investigate and verify cases which is where part of the administration costs go in because you can’t just pay out money. “Imagine someone turns up in the morning and says my cows have been eaten and they expect a cheque. “We don’t just disburse. That would not be auditable.”
The investigations are critical, as some community leaders have revealed instances of misrepresentation and fraud in the compensation scheme. Tubu village kgosi, Mod Masedi, said there had been instances of fake claims being filed in the past before the area introduced wildlife scouts.
"There was someone who was always reporting that his bulls had been killed, but because of the scouts, we discovered that he did not even have any bulls,” Masedi told the meeting. “Some would go and take a head from somewhere and say ‘This was my cow’. “That’s a lot of money going out that could be used elsewhere. “Some believe when they get broke, they just go and get the head of someone else’s cow and report.”
Under the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act, the government pays out various levels of compensation for crop and livestock damage caused by certain wildlife. Under the law, 100% rate of compensation is applied for elephants and lions, while all other listed wildlife are paid out at 50%. No compensation is paid if the farmer injures or kills a lion and the compensation also excludes exclude labour, transport and any other costs.
While farmers have frequently decried the compensation rates as too low and the terms as too restrictive, the Ministry of Environment and Wildlife has said its budget is too tight to increase the levels paid out. The Ministry has been the frequent target of broader budget cutbacks due to the reasoning that donors and NGOs are available to partner in many of its programmes, including HWC.
However, authorities in the Ministry have argued that donor support has been drying up over the years, due to the country’s classification as a middle-income economy.
For the 2024-25 financial year, the Ministry’s recurrent budget was cut from an original P984.5 million to P937.7 million, while its development budget was reduced from P533.7 million to P270.3 million.
The Ministry pays out compensation from its recurrent budget, while the development budget caters for mitigation measures such as elephant-proof fences and others.
This year, the Ministry’s recurrent budget is set to be approved at P956.7 million, while the development budget is expected to come in at about P519 million.
Analysts fear that significant cuts could be made to both budgets should the government need to reduce broader spending this year, a high likelihood as the diamond downturn continues.
Experts speaking at the sustainable wildlife management meeting urged the government to look at allowing communities most affected by HWC to retain some of the hunting revenues for compensation.
At present, the government’s own revenues from hunting are paid into the National Environment Fund which, amongst others, finances HWC mitigation and alternative income-generating investments in affected communities.
According to figures presented in Parliament on Wednesday, communities generated P42.8 million from their hunting quotas in the 2024 hunting season, while the government generated P15.3 million from the sale of special elephant quotas.
Batshabang said the upcoming HWC strategy would contain many options on how to deal with the challenge on a more sustainable basis.
“We are looking to bring the communities closer so that they can now manage part of that process (compensation) and it can be more efficient. “We have not determined how the whole thing will work, if perhaps they could compensate themselves or, for instance, develop an insurance package. “We know from elsewhere that the insurance works and it could address some of the problems that we have right now. “We are coming up with a comprehensive strategy that has several ideas or approaches to HWC management,” he said.
The DWNP director told Mmegi that the HWC strategy was due by the end of the month.
“We are very close to finalising it. “It does contain the options around compensation and many others. “It went for the last round of validation last week and we expect that by the end of this month, it should have been delivered. “After delivery, we are going to work on packaging it,” he said.
The strategy is being developed in conjunction with the University of Botswana’s Okavango Research Institute, a key entity in the research on the country’s HWC and possible interventions.
“When there is a case, it has to be attended to by officers, driving around and there is also the whole administration process of paying,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting on sustainable wildlife management. “You have to investigate and verify cases which is where part of the administration costs go in because you can’t just pay out money. “Imagine someone turns up in the morning and says my cows have been eaten and they expect a cheque. “We don’t just disburse. That would not be auditable.”
The investigations are critical, as some community leaders have revealed instances of misrepresentation and fraud in the compensation scheme. Tubu village kgosi, Mod Masedi, said there had been instances of fake claims being filed in the past before the area introduced wildlife scouts.
"There was someone who was always reporting that his bulls had been killed, but because of the scouts, we discovered that he did not even have any bulls,” Masedi told the meeting. “Some would go and take a head from somewhere and say ‘This was my cow’. “That’s a lot of money going out that could be used elsewhere. “Some believe when they get broke, they just go and get the head of someone else’s cow and report.”
Under the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act, the government pays out various levels of compensation for crop and livestock damage caused by certain wildlife. Under the law, 100% rate of compensation is applied for elephants and lions, while all other listed wildlife are paid out at 50%. No compensation is paid if the farmer injures or kills a lion and the compensation also excludes exclude labour, transport and any other costs.
While farmers have frequently decried the compensation rates as too low and the terms as too restrictive, the Ministry of Environment and Wildlife has said its budget is too tight to increase the levels paid out. The Ministry has been the frequent target of broader budget cutbacks due to the reasoning that donors and NGOs are available to partner in many of its programmes, including HWC.
However, authorities in the Ministry have argued that donor support has been drying up over the years, due to the country’s classification as a middle-income economy.
For the 2024-25 financial year, the Ministry’s recurrent budget was cut from an original P984.5 million to P937.7 million, while its development budget was reduced from P533.7 million to P270.3 million.
The Ministry pays out compensation from its recurrent budget, while the development budget caters for mitigation measures such as elephant-proof fences and others.
This year, the Ministry’s recurrent budget is set to be approved at P956.7 million, while the development budget is expected to come in at about P519 million.
Analysts fear that significant cuts could be made to both budgets should the government need to reduce broader spending this year, a high likelihood as the diamond downturn continues.
Experts speaking at the sustainable wildlife management meeting urged the government to look at allowing communities most affected by HWC to retain some of the hunting revenues for compensation.
At present, the government’s own revenues from hunting are paid into the National Environment Fund which, amongst others, finances HWC mitigation and alternative income-generating investments in affected communities.
According to figures presented in Parliament on Wednesday, communities generated P42.8 million from their hunting quotas in the 2024 hunting season, while the government generated P15.3 million from the sale of special elephant quotas.
Batshabang said the upcoming HWC strategy would contain many options on how to deal with the challenge on a more sustainable basis.
“We are looking to bring the communities closer so that they can now manage part of that process (compensation) and it can be more efficient. “We have not determined how the whole thing will work, if perhaps they could compensate themselves or, for instance, develop an insurance package. “We know from elsewhere that the insurance works and it could address some of the problems that we have right now. “We are coming up with a comprehensive strategy that has several ideas or approaches to HWC management,” he said.
The DWNP director told Mmegi that the HWC strategy was due by the end of the month.
“We are very close to finalising it. “It does contain the options around compensation and many others. “It went for the last round of validation last week and we expect that by the end of this month, it should have been delivered. “After delivery, we are going to work on packaging it,” he said.
The strategy is being developed in conjunction with the University of Botswana’s Okavango Research Institute, a key entity in the research on the country’s HWC and possible interventions.
