Gaborone — Over 45 000 problem animal incidents, over 60 deaths and 50 injuries have been recorded countrywide since 2018.
Officially opening the national human-wildlife conflict Pitso in Gaborone recently, Minister of Environment and Tourism, Ms Philda Kereng said more than P124 million was disbursed as compensation to the affected farmers.
Ms Kereng said human-wildlife conflict struck at the core of people's livelihoods, especially rural communities, affecting their sustenance and economy. She said there was need to respond to the challenge and minimise the conflict.
"Too often, individuals are left with nothing to show for their efforts due to encroachment of wild animals into areas inhabited by people and the destruction of their crops, livestock and other properties," she said.
She said the numbers showed that the challenge facing the country was unprecedented and required urgent attention. She singled out elephants as their numbers and range continued to increase.
Ms Kereng noted that most cases of wildlife damage to crops and fields and installations such as boreholes, water storage tanks and fences were attributed to elephants.
However, she said the country's development story was anchored on the prudent management of natural resources and wildlife, which co-existed with farming.
The minister said the increasing human-wildlife conflict was further compounded by climate change. The Acting Director of Wildlife and National Parks, Mr Moemedi Batshabang, said human-wildlife conflict was a challenge to those in farming and other sectors of the economy.
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Mr Batshabang said most of the encounters took place at night and involved dangerous and treasured species such as lions.
Either humans or wildlife were injured or killed during the encounters, and the numbers were increasing annually, he added.
He said his department was conducting awareness and education campaigns as interventions to lessen the impact of the human-wildlife conflict.
Others include alternative livelihoods, compensation, patrols, capture and translocation of problem animals.
He said elephants, lions and leopards constituted over 75 per cent of the cases, adding that dealing with the trio would lower the impact.
He urged the Pitso delegates to devise means to address the challenge.
The Pitso was held under the theme: Exploring innovative ways to manage the human wildlife interface to sustain livelihoods #A re Chencheng.
BOPA
