negative impacts of wildlife law enforcement on tribal communities
TRANSCRIPT
Tribal peoples are more at risk
• Often depend on hunting for subsistence • Easy target• Live in remote areas• Law itself is deficient
Laws are deficient
• Fail to distinguish “wildlife crime” from subsistence hunting.
• Leave too much power in the hands of Executive
• No mechanism to call wildlife scouts or ecoguards to account
Case study: Botswana’s Bushmen
• All hunting banned since 2014 (except in private game ranches)
• No alternative food source • Paramilitary police deployed to enforce the
ban• No consultation
Impacts
• Risk of starvation• Some forced to abandon way of life• State of fear• No co-operation with authorities• Expensive but ineffective
Case study: Baka in Cameroon
• Forbidden to hunt in or enter “protected” land• Exploited by powerful elites• Victims of “Punch Operations” • Expensive but ineffective