Namibia conducts elephant census to improve human-wildlife conflict management

Namibia's Environment ministry is conducting an elephant census in the north west of the country in order to further understand elephant distribution and density.

Chief public relations officer, Romeo Muyunda on Wednesday said the census which has kicked off last week is expected to end in the second week of October.

Muyunda confirmed that the results from the elephant census are set to help the ministry's approach to human-elephant conflict management.

The move by the ministry comes in the light of claims that the ministry is not attending to cases of human-wildlife conflict which occur throughout Namibia on communal as well as freehold land.

Environment minister, Pohamba Shifeta on Tuesday refuted the claims that his ministry has not been attending to the cases of wildlife conflict.

"We continue to invest resources and time to mitigate the impacts of human wildlife conflicts," he added.

According to Shifeta, environment officials across the country, in particular the Kunene region in the northwest where the majority of these concerns emanate from, are working closely with farmers and communities to bring the situation under control.

He said four elephants have been collared to monitor their movements.

The collar data will be shared with the local farmer's association on a daily basis which they use to inform their members on the movements of elephants in the area to mitigate further losses, he added.

Meanwhile, Shifeta also noted that a relatively high frequency of conflicts involving lion predation on livestock also occurs in specific parts of the Kunene region.

Due to the on going conflict, the ministry recognized the need for new innovation ideas on how to address human wildlife conflict and has initiated the process of reviewing the National Policy on Human Wildlife Conflict Management. Endit