Germany’s Green Party has been hit with accusations of “causing damage” in Africa and acting as though Namibian citizens “can’t think for themselves” over plans to ban the import of hunting trophies.
The row broke out when Green Environment Minister Steffi Lemke began campaigning for the ban, describing the import of trophies as “absurd.” Similar bans are also being considered in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
Lemke has complained about the hunting of animals “facing extinction,” prompting Namibian officials to stress that hunting is, in fact, a key part of conservation.
The African nation’s environment minister, Pohamba Shifeta, told German newspaper Bild that trophy hunting takes place under strict international guidelines, adding that, if Germany were to make this “impossible,” this would be “an illegal, neo-colonial interference that runs counter to the international legal situation.”
Maxi Louis, who is the head of a major Namibian nature reserve and conservancy association, went further, telling the paper:
These people may want to do good, but they are causing damage in an African country. We tell them this, but they don’t listen. They say: They can’t think for themselves.
With their project, the Greens are falling back into the colonialism of the 19th century. These people have the audacity to tell an African country what to do. This is a racist attitude and behavior towards us.
The dispute is not confined to Namibia. Officials in its neighbouring country, Botswana, have threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany in protest against potential trophy import bans, which are being discussed despite an overpopulation of the mammal. (Its leaders say the country is home to around 130,000 elephants.)
Insisting that the promise of this ‘gift’ was “no joke,” President Mokgweetsi Masisi said the elephants should be allowed to “roam freely” like they would in Botswana. He added:
It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana. We are paying the price for preserving these animals for the world—and even for Lemke’s party.
Even the European Commission last year accepted that, so long as it is “well-regulated,” trophy hunting “can deliver benefits for both wildlife conservation and for the livelihoods and wellbeing of indigenous people and local communities living with wildlife.”
Masisi has warned that elephant overpopulation has become so bad that crops and even villages are being desecrated by the creatures. Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment said Lemke has “signaled that she will accept Botswana’s invitation if an opportunity arises” to inspect the country’s conservation efforts.
