Botswana athlete advocates for human wildlife coexistence

As first appeared in Botswana Guardian, here. Written by Keletso Thobega.

December 16 2022

Famous for mountaineering, Simon Phutego’s charity held a bush walk to raise awareness about human wildlife conflict

The bush walk took place in Maun, close to the biodiverse rich Okavango Delta.

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mage by Colin Watts.

The Simon Phutego Organisation (SPO) held a charity walk this past Saturday in Maun.

The purpose was to raise funds for human wildlife victims as well as to raise awareness on the need for communities who live in wildlife dense areas to protect biodiversity and encourage sustainable conservation.

The SPO inaugural KAZA Coexistence Charity Bushwalk 2022 was meant to raise awareness and raise funds to help victims of human- wildlife conflict in the Kavango- Zambezi (KAZA) region.

“Through this bushwalk, we were raising funds to assist victims we have identified. The chosen beneficiaries are Nkoketsang Monnawatsheko and Cecilia Monnawatsheko- the mother- daughter duo who lost their limbs in a near fatal crocodile attack whilst harvesting tswii in the Thamalakane river in Maun,” Phutego said.

He said that the plight of the family had hurt him as it did the whole country and he wanted to use it to spotlight other similar issues, including the need to help community members find better means of eking a living without putting their lives at risk. He said that although they did not raise as much funds as they would have envisioned or wanted, the attendance and reception was heartwarming, and they were still confident that they would garner more support early next year and continue with their community capacitation and empowerment programmes.

Human- wildlife conflict is one of the most pressing conservation issues across the KavangoZambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, where a significant number of people live in a wildlife area. Common consequences from human wildlife conflict include crop destruction, property damage, human and wildlife death or injury.

Traditional mitigation methods are not efficient and sustainable, and furthermore there is a general lack of capacity to mitigate the impacts of human wildlife conflict, and these are poorly monitored, which requires a holistic approach to address it.

Phutego said that the most urgent interventions required in tackling human- wildlife conflict include improving public education, strengthening community participation in formulating mitigation strategies, community empowerment and adaptation into changing the dynamics of conflict. “All programmes and interventions should be centred on the community because they are the most knowledgeable and affected by animal attacks,” he said.

Phutego also said that biodiversity conservation is key in all areas with flora and fauna and that is another area that SPO focuses on, adding that community members should be taught to preserve and protect natural ecosystems.

He recommended multiple ways to approach this which includes less interference from Government and the private sector as well as fair negotiations between communities and the private sector and fair, transparent and equitable Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) practices for community beneficiation.

Protect, preserve and promote Botswana’s cultural and natural heritage for sustainable utilisation while also protecting natural ecosystems such as flora and fauna and protecting the lives of human beings and wild animals.

Phutego also called for the adoption and usage of Conservation Agreements that could better facilitate commitment of communities in exchange for specific incentives from various stakeholders.

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organisation Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.