The UK government’s proposals have since been included in the Animals Abroad Bill (2022), which may be tabled, in the next sitting of Parliament. The purported aim of these measures is to protect endangered wildlife but the likely outcome in Africa will be the opposite.
If these measures are enacted, we expect to see, in Africa, an acceleration in the rate of loss of wildlife, accelerated loss of biodiversity and yet more loss of wildlife habitat to unsustainable agricultural practices on marginal land. These proposals are ill judged and not well considered. The UK government has ignored both its own experience and the detailed submissions and reasoned arguments of the better informed. No African nation has the resources to offer off its citizens an adequate health or education service so it is hard to justify spending on conservation. Few people in the UK can have any conception of how harsh life is for the great majority of rural Africans. Even in Botswana where I live, one of the better-off African nations, there are many people struggling to exist on an income of less than P350 (=£25) a month. The cost of living is not that different from the UK. Rural Africa is impoverished by unfair trade practices by developed nations, poor domestic policy, inadequate infrastructure and poor health services and education.
