Page 91 - ODUMar-Apr2019
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a total of 2.43 million kg of meat for all tourists.

              • With conservation hunting alone, if we only feed tourist’s venison – which a lot of lodges to –
              there is not enough to go around.
              • Yes,  there  is  commercial  meat  hunting  as  well  as  domestic  stock  raised  for  meat
              consumption – but I think you get the point we are making here.
      o Water
          ▪  Water is an incredibly scarce resource in Namibia. Most water is pumped out of underground
              reserves.
          ▪  At 100 liters (26 gallons) per person per day (a very low number) just tourism uses 150 million

              liters (57 million gallons) of water per day = 60 Olympic size swimming pools of water per day
              for guests only.
          ▪  Vegetables – a vegetarian in the middle of Namibia’s wilderness has a far greater negative
              ecological effect eating fruit and vegetables transported 1000’s of kilometers to get there than
              eating venison.
          ▪  Shower and toilet waste

      o Fossil fuels
          ▪  Tourism uses an enormous amount of fossil fuels to get tourists to Namibia, and then onto
              their  destination.  Camps  and  lodges  then  also  need  to  be  supplied  as  well  as  the  tourists
              driven around.
          ▪  Electricity needs to be generated. Solar has become a popular option.
      o Trash
          ▪  This needs to be dealt with and is often too expensive to be taken to the nearest town for
              recycling = it is buried close to the camp or lodge.

      o Employment -
          ▪  The huge number of those employed in conservation hunting vs. tourism is significant.

    Points to consider:

   It takes 5.4 tourists per day to generate the same revenue as one conservation – at what cost to the
   environment? All tourists are not vegetarian, and the meat must come from somewhere? Conservation

                                                                  hunting  harvests  animals  in  a  sustainable
                                                                  manner,  and  plays  a  smaller  part  in  the
                                                                  economy,  but  produces  a  product  of  venison.
                                                                  Conservation  hunting  has  less  impact  on  the
                                                                  environment  all  aspects  considered.  The  high
                                                                  rate of employment in conservation hunting is
                                                                  significant


                                                                  In  conclusion.  There  is  place  for  all  forms  of
                                                                  tourism – and yes, conservation hunting is also a
                                                                  form of this. We need to respect each other and
                                                                  understand  the  crucial  role  each  plays  in
                                                                  conservation, ecological impact, contribution to
                                                                  GDP,  job  creation  and  the  production
                                                                  and consumption of venison.
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