LILONGWE, Malawi, April 2 (MaraviPost) _ Malawi President Peter Mutharika has warned that increased wildlife crime has a negative impact on the county’s economic development.
Mutharika has since assured Malawians that his government will not relent in its pursuit to protect wildlife in the country.
Speaking during the world wildlife day commemorations held at parliament building in Lilongwe on Thursday, Mutharika said wildlife crime counter his government’s vision of turning tourism into one of economic growth sectors.
“My Government has singled out tourism as one of economic growth sectors. It should, therefore, be clear in everyone’s mind that wildlife crime poses a very big threat to tourism development in this country. We all need to realize that wildlife is a mainstay of tourism. It should, therefore, be realized that with increasing wildlife crime, any forex that wildlife-based tourism generates, will definitely not be realized,” said Mutharika.
The President observed that although the World is heading towards a wildlife crisis Malawi will strive to protect its wildlife.
“Reports show that wildlife crime is the largest direct threat to many of the world’s threatened species, such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, among others. For instance, it is estimated that in 2012, about 22,000 elephants were illegally killed across Africa. It is further estimated that World over, between 2009 and June 2014, criminal networks were able to traffic close to 170 tons of ivory translating to around 230,000 elephants exterminated from the wild.
“In Malawi alone, experts say the elephant population has drastically declined from 4,000 in the 1980s to 2,000 as we speak, while Kasungu National Park is on the verge of having its elephant population of 2,000 in the 1980s completely wiped out.
“It is, therefore, not surprising, Distinguished, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the forecast is that if the current trends are not checked, Africa should expect to have no elephants in the wild, come the year 2025. This is amidst reports that other African nations have completely lost their elephant populations,” said Mutharika.
According to Information Tourism and Culture Minister Kondwani Nakhumwa poaching is the major challenge facing the parks and wild life department. – MaraviPost
