As the illicit ivory trade in Southern Africa shows alarming trends, Namibian authorities have seized at least 102 elephant tusks in the past year. Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, has said
Shifeta was speaking at the national stakeholder forum for wildlife protection and law enforcement last week and further highlighted that Namibia, especially the north-east regions, remains an important transit country for traffickers.
“We remain committed to our responsibility to counter this trade, no matter the source country of the ivory. Three significant seizures contributed to almost 60% of the tusks seized, and this is a result of vigilance and intelligence-led operations by inter-agency investigative teams that do collaborate with colleagues from neighbouring countries. Further investigation and research regarding the origin, source, and destination of illegal ivory remains a priority,” Shifeta said.
He went on to say, however, that since controlling a surge in poaching in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Namibia has experienced comparatively low levels of illegal killing of wildlife, particularly rhinos and elephants. The changes in protected areas and wildlife management policies that followed independence and the rapid growth of community-based natural resource management and the conservation and community forest programmes in particular have no doubt contributed to the upward population trends shown by most wildlife species in the country, including rhinos, elephants, and pangolins.
“The poaching of rhinos continues to be a major concern, and the year 2023 saw a slight increase in rhinos poached compared to 2022, with 79 poached in 2022 and 83 in 2023. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, along with its partners, have developed a range of tactical responses to deal with this, and we are hopeful that during the current year we will dismantle key syndicates. Although the data for the past year is not encouraging, I need to acknowledge the work of our staff and operatives on the ground, as well as the Blue Rhino Task Team for the number of pre-emptive arrests of poaching syndicate members who were intercepted before gaining access to rhino areas, including Etosha National Park. These efforts certainly prevented the killing of a significant number of rhinos,” said Shifeta.
On the other hand, pangolin seizures showed a sharp increase in 2023, following a significant decline in 2022. The drop in 2022 may be due to the strong sentences handed down during the Special Courts held during the year.
“Again, this challenge has been addressed by the Office of the Prosecutor General, which has planned and is indeed undertaking Special Courts during the current year. The key drivers of pangolin trafficking are not fully understood, and there are efforts to gain a greater understanding of the illicit trade,” explained Shifeta, further adding that poaching can have severe economic implications.
“As government, we will continue strengthening our efforts in effective crime prevention and law enforcement through the coordination and integration of clusters of activities such as planning, monitoring, and adaptive management; a strong and effective presence on the ground; dedicated investigation units that focus on criminal syndicates and organised crime; the use of technology; collaboration between the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism; the Police, the Army, Judiciary, Intelligence Service, communities, farmers, and others; and training and retraining of our staff members and the operatives on the ground.”