By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
THE Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) says Government should competently regulate trophy hunting, carry social impact assessment and strengthen game management capacity in view of the lifting of the big cat hunting.
Last month, Tourism and Arts minister Jean Kapata lifted the ban on the hunting of leopards and established provision to allow for lion hunting in the 2016/2017 hunting season.
But PMRC executive director Bernadette Deka said the ministry should make sure that all modalities were put in place before the coming hunting season for the country to reap economic benefits.
“The government should guarantee that funds generated from hunting are directed towards community-led conservation initiatives benefit local people economically and ultimately contributing to reducing rural poverty.
“There is need to conduct socio-economic impact assessments so that, that accrued benefits are equitably distributed to local communities,” Ms Deka said in a policy research statement yesterday.
She called for the development of a formalised set of criteria and indicators that would effectively monitor hunting practices within the respective blocks.
