Sun, 25 Dec 2016 10:40:40 +0000
By AARON CHIYANZO
THE levels of poaching and illegal wildlife trade in Zambia will increase as long as the local people do not benefit from the tourism sector, 3rd Liberation Movement (3LM) secretary general Enock Chikatula has warned.
Mr Chikatula explained that local people were engaging in poaching and illegal wildlife trading because they were not benefiting from the tourism sector.
He pointed out that locals especially those in rural areas were not seeing any use of keeping animals in national parks when they were not benefiting in any way from what was earned from the parks.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Chikatula said that people in rural areas needed to feed and support their families and that hunting was one way by which they had for a long time sustained their lives.
He said that forbidding them from hunting when they were not benefiting in any way from tourism seemed quite unfair to them.
Mr Chikatula reiterated that the levels of poaching and illegal wildlife trade in Zambia would continue increasing if the local people did not benefit from the sector.
“As long as the local people especially those in rural areas feel that they are not benefiting anything from the tourism sector, they will continue with their illegal hunting. These people need to survive and support their families,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Chikatula said that poaching and illegal wildlife trading had a negative effect on the growth of the economy.
He warned that poaching could lead to some species of animals in national parks being extinct, hence reduce the number of tourists.
Mr Chikatula pointed out that even the little foreign exchange that Government was earning from the tourism sector would be no more if tourist stopped coming into the country.
“Poaching and illegal wildlife trading have a negative effect on the growth of the economy. It can lead to some species of animals in national parks being extinct, hence reduce the number of tourists,” he said.
Mr Chikatula bemoaned that certain species of wildlife had already become extinct and that even others such as elephants were at risk of extinction if Government did not put immediate measures to curb the vice.
