Human-wildlife conflict is a problem in many regions of the world, including Botswana, Africa. The tensions often occur in areas where humans are encroaching ever more densely on wildlife habitats with their settlements.
The people living there hardly benefit from the valuable biodiversity and see native large herbivores and predators in particular as a threat to their livelihood: elephants that eat fruits and vegetables from the cultivated areas and damage houses, granaries and water tanks by their sheer strength and size, or predators that tear their farm animals.
To avoid such conflicts and preserve the world’s fascinating and enormously biodiverse ecosystem, Botswana’s government provides for compensation payments for damage caused by lions and other wildlife.
Unfortunately, however, the remoteness of the villages means that the affected communities do not take advantage of this. Instead, they kill the lions to protect their livestock. This approach threatens not only the lions, but the entire ecosystem.
“Through better protection of livestock, species conservation education, and the creation of alternative sources of income, we aim to enable humans and lions to coexist.“
– Kabelo Dintwa, Head Lion Ranger –
Protection status:
Endangered
Population Africa
20.000
Threats from:
Poaching, trophy hunting, habitat fragmentation,
Man Wildlife conflicts
To achieve peaceful coexistence between humans and lions in the long term, we take two approaches:
Environmental education, outreach, help for
self-help and provides practical
support on the ground.
A lion alarm system is designed to prevent conflicts between residents
and lions, helping to effectively protect the next
generation of lions.
Together with the inhabitants, a protection concept is developed and implemented to enable a peaceful coexistence of people and lions in the long term. The goal of the "SAVE Lions" project is to prevent the killing of lions and to improve the living situation of the local people. Together with our 6 rangers and community members we are working to protect the livestock from predators by fences and to prevent conflicts.
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It's about saving the next generation of lions. Fewer than 20,000 lions still live in the whole of Africa, about 1,200 of them in Botswana's Okavango Delta. But time and again, the animals are shot or poisoned by the delta's inhabitants. The "Next Generation" project, initiated in partnership with the Löwenbräu brand, now aims to protect the lion population in order to safeguard future lion generations. A lion early warning system is designed to avoid conflicts between residents and lions.
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Lion conservation in Botswana:
Our successes since program start 10/2021
Livestock loss Reduction
Farmer with Educational work reached
Lion Camp built
The threatened situation of the big cats requires our urgent attention. Dwindling habitats and clashes with the human population pose a serious threat to the lions. It is time to take decisive action to ensure the survival of these fascinating animals.
Stay up to date – we will inform you regularly about our projects and further activities.