African Wildlife & Environment Issue 85

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

people live and farm inside conservancies, for lions, for example, to connect between Botswana and Zambia,” she says. As a conservationist with proven credentials and a long track record, Lise is comfortable with the hunting quotas as set by the Namibian Government because the science behind setting these quotas is “very thorough”, including annual on-foot counts by conservancies, NGOs and government, annual floodplains census by government and aerial surveys of specific species. “Species that were in the hundreds 20 years

ago are now in the thousands. All are hunted yet numbers continue to rise.” These increases have occurred because of conservancies’ support for conservation and communities welcoming the re-introduction of wildlife into their areas. Hundreds of jobs and thousands of livelihoods in this relatively small and crowded part of Namibia depend on wildlife. “People’s lives are tied to wildlife and trophy hunting is the kicker that produces the income.” Lise’s camera traps, set in core wildlife areas, have played a major role in revealing how much

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