Today, Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) facilitated a special session of the African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF), chaired by Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks. The forum, established by SCIF in 2002, is a collaborative space for African wildlife authorities, the professional hunting industry, and community-based organizations to work together.
During today’s meeting, African governments voiced their concerns about the most recent emergence of legislation in Western countries to ban the import of legally hunted wildlife in Africa. While in various stages of consideration depending on the corresponding country, these proposals exist at the federal level in the United States, in American states such as California, Connecticut, Illinois, and in other nations across the globe such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, and other EU members.
This latest AWCF event provided a platform to unite African leaders in an effort to end the intervention by misinformed Western activists in a wildlife management process that should be rightfully determined by Africans, listens to local communities and follows science.
The pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for Africa’s tourism sector and rural communities that benefit from the now struggling international hunting industry. At the same time, anti-hunting groups and unknowing politicians are pouring salt in the wound of African economies and conservation programs by using COVID-19 as a deceptive excuse to brand import bans as protective public health initiatives.
In truth, import bans would only continue the negative impact from tourism shutdowns and be detrimental to rebuilding this industry, the livelihoods of rural communities, and incentives for proven wildlife conservation in Africa.
Together with COVID related bills and viral misinformation in the international media, we are seeing the most coordinated global effort to ban imports of hunted wildlife. SCI and SCIF are leaders across the international, federal, and state landscape and in working with African partners to address these problems.
Anti-hunting activists have convinced politicians around the world to ignore the position of African governments, pleas from local communities, and reason from scientists. The incontrovertible fact is that hunting, as legally allowed in and strictly regulated by the African nations in attendance at this week’s summit, plays an irreplaceable role in conservation. These proposed bans, while often illegal in their scope of jurisdiction, would cut off revenues that fund anti-poaching efforts, incentivize habitat conservation, provide income to local outfitters and guides, and deliver welcome food security to impoverished communities.
“Today’s discussion was poignant, particularly the conversation between African government officials. One clear message rose above the rest: hunting in Africa is a central contributor to tourism and is critical to rural development and empowerment of local communities” said George Pangeti, retired Chairman of the Board of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks). “Racial equity are more than buzzwords. President Biden’s Executive Order on Racial Equity directs the whole of the U.S. government to ‘redress inequities in their policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity.’ Redressal begins by consulting Africans on decisions that impact their right to manage their natural resources”.
“We have a successful history of tackling these issues through the African Wildlife Consultative Forum,” says Joe Goergen, SCIF’s Conservation Manager and lead organizer for the AWCF. “As we showed here again, politicians and the public can no longer ignore the realities of conservation in Africa. We are encouraged by the high-level cooperation amongst African governments and will work tirelessly to share their voices.”
Safari Club International and Safari Club International Foundation CEO Laird Hamberlin also commented, “SCI and SCIF is the leading organization fighting the import ban proposals around the world. We’re the only organization with the staff resources, legal expertise and established working relationships with leaders on the ground in Africa to help protect conservation efforts and the right to hunt worldwide. We appreciate the commitment from African governments and community leaders to the AWCF and look forward to continuing our work at our meeting in Botswana in November.”
The 19th meeting of the AWCF will take place in Kasane, Botswana in November 2021.
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Botswana (Department of Wildlife and National Parks)
Cameroon (Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife)
Ethiopia (Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority)
Mozambique (ANAC)
Namibia (Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism)
South Africa (Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries)
Tanzania (Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority, and TAWIRI)
Zambia (Department of National Parks and Wildlife)
Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority)