When Mozambique lost more than half of the elephants due to hunting since 2009, the WB’s decision to sponsor this sport was questioned: Is hunting the best way to save animals? Standing on the edge of genocide?
At the end of 2014, the World Bank funded US $ 46 million to Mozambique – one of the poorest countries in the world – to develop tourism and reduce poverty, of which US $ 700,000 was dedicated to elephant hunting and monks death. Meanwhile, elephant poaching takes ivory to serve the black market in Asia, causing the number of elephants in Mozambique to decline dramatically. According to a survey by the Wildlife Conservation Association (WCS), during the period of 2009-2014, the number of elephants decreased from about 20,000 to only 10,300 individuals.
Mozambique and many poor countries in Africa such as South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have long considered sport hunting as a financial support for wildlife protection, despite the fact that The rhino in Zimbabwe still has not escaped extinction in 2013. In contrast, Botswana and Kenya have decided to ban large-scale animal hunting against the decline in the number of elephants and animals in these two countries. The view that animal hunting is a conservation strategy still faces mixed opinions.
According to a spokesman for the World Bank, if it is possible to rationally control and share benefits with communities in and around the national park area, animal hunting will be an important tool for sustainable governance of protected areas. survival and natural resources.
However, many others argue that profit from the hunting industry is not enough to motivate poor communities, especially in the context of corruption in some countries. According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in the face of serious illegal hunting, organizations like the World Bank should realize that killing animals is a wrong, unethical and unethical act. cannot be considered conservation.
With funding from the World Bank, Mozambique issued 80 elephant hunting licenses every year for a price of US $ 11,000, and 55-60 lion hunting licenses for a unit price of US $ 4,000. However, the community around the reserve only receives 20% of the profits, the rest flows into the pockets of the Mozambique government.
The idea of sustainable use of wildlife has been addressed in the Convention on Biological Diversity – a treaty aimed at developing national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Accordingly, people are allowed to collect benefits from animals provided that they do not affect the number of individuals and their habitats.
However, some conservationists debated the concept of “sustainable use” in animal hunting. A typical example is the Dallas Safari Club, where an extremely dangerous black rhino auction license in Namibia has just joined the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Accordingly, $ 350,000 earned from buyers will be transferred directly to a conservation fund in Namibia. This is considered the worst way to allow hunting to hide under the voice of conservation.