His pledge to leading an inclusive Government with people at the centre of the debate is the recipe for success and prosperity. Whilst the Masisi Review may be unpalatable to many, his approach is not entirely about hunting. It’s about appropriate land use, and how to engage rural communities in wildlife-based management. To date there has been a chronic failure to recognise, implement and support community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in the country.
So, the Masisi Review is about how to bring rural communities to the discussion table, and how to create meaningful and tangible benefits for communities living with wildlife in an appropriate land use context, and to find solutions for human / wildlife conflict: we’re at a critical point - His Excellency’s Parliamentary Committee will consult, investigate and report back to the Office of the President with the facts – not emotion. Conservation costs money, big money, and if the very people living close to and/or with wildlife don’t benefit, it’s hardly surprising that they’ll look carefully at why they shouldn’t shoot an elephant eating their entire crop for the year, or seek to protect their livestock from hungry predators.
