Fernando de Noronha island is one of the most pristine and beautiful places on Earth - sharks, turtles and dolphins swim in the turquoise waters and the coastline is home to the largest concentration

THE Ministry of Environment and Tourism has launched a community reward fund to encourage the reporting of poaching activities to help curb wildlife crimes in the Zambezi region. Chief regional control warden Morgan Saisai revealed this yesterday. He said the regional pool fund aims to combat poaching in the region, with funding generated from the ministry’s anti-poaching unit, conservancies, and some lodges in the region. “Communities not only live in the areas where poaching activities take place, but they witness most of it as their neighbours are poachers too. Therefore, to motivate communities to speak up about poaching activities more, we have decided to come up with this fund. “These natural resources are there for the benefit of the local communities, however, poaching activities are putting some of the species at risk of extinction. Therefore, involving the communities to combat poaching is important,” he said. Namibia has lost over 631 rhinos to poaching over the last 10 years and just over 220 elephants, although the number of poached elephants has significantly declined in recent years. Saisai says compensation varies according to species, adding that if a community member provides a tip on a buffalo being poached, they would be paid N$1 000. He said if a resident also provides information on the illegal possession of a hunting rifle, or information that leads to the arrest of a repeat offender, they would get N$500 per tip. “If it happens that the tip-off leads to the arrest of a repeat offender with possession of an illegal hunting rifle and buffalo carcass, then the person would get N$2 000. The compensation is paid out within 48 hours via Easy Wallet,” he said. Saisai said the ministry is on high alert, as winter is peak season for poaching activities. He said intelligence gathered indicates that cross-border syndicates are currently passing through the region to poach animals in Botswana’s Chobe National Park, as well as in local parks. “Over the weekend we intercepted a group of suspected poachers in one of the local parks, but they ran away. We only confiscated their poaching gear and food items,” he said. The post Ministry offers cash to catch poachers appeared first on The Namibian.