Live by the gun, die by the gun: An Analysis of Botswana’s ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy as an anti-poaching strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3108/2017/i60a1787Keywords:
poaching, rhinos, elephants, green militarisation, shoot-to-kill, effectiveness, BotswanaAbstract
Notwithstanding the adoption of various anti-poaching strategies, rhino and elephant poaching levels are increasingly growing in Southern African. To protect wildlife, the government of Botswana has devised and implemented controversial ‘shoot to kill’ policy against poachers. This strategy appears to be working in reducing poaching which is thought to be ‘virtually non-existent’ in Botswana. Thus the neighbouring countries have resorted to relocate their rhino populations to Botswana. This paper discusses the militarisation of conservation generally as a policy alternative. It makes an in-depth assessment of Botswana’s shoot-to-kill policy. This article adopts an exploratory research method to review the relevant literature in investigating the effectiveness of Botswana’s shoot-to-kill policy. It investigates whether this policy can be adopted by other countries particularly South Africa to combat poaching. This policy analysis is important for South Africa as it has been forced to transfer or migrate a substantial number of rhinos to Botswana.
Downloads
References
Annecke, W. & Masubelele, 2016. A Review of the Impact of Militarisation: The Case of Rhino Poaching in Kruger National Park. Conservation and Society, 14(3), pp. 195-204.
Burscher, B., 2016. Rhino poaching is out of control!’ Violence, race and the politics of hysteria in online conservation. Environment and Planning A, 48(5), p. 979–998.
Challender, D. & MacMillan, D., 2014. Poaching is more than an Enforcement Problem. Conservation Letters, 7(5), pp. 484-494.
Cheteni, P., 2014. An analysis of antipoaching technique in Africa: a case of rhino poaching. Environmental Economics, 5(3), pp. 63-70.
Crookes, D. & Blignaut, J., 2016. A categorisation and evaluation of rhino management policies. Development Southern Africa, 33(4), pp. 459-469.
Dicks, L., Walsh, J. & Sutherlnd, W., 2014. Organising Evidence for the Environmental Management Decisions: A "4S" Hierarchy. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Volume 29, pp. 607-19.
Duffy, R., 2014. Waging a war to save biodiversity: the rise of militarized conservation. International Affairs, 90(4), pp. 819-834.
Ellof, C. & Lemieux, A., 2014. Rhino Poaching in Kruger National Park, South: aligning analysis, technology and prevention. In: A. Lemieux, ed. Situtational Prevention of Poaching. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 18-43.
Goga, K., 2014. Taking Stock of the Last 20 years: Responses to organised crime in a democratic South Africa. South African Crime Quartely, Volume 48, pp. 63-73.
Haas, T. & Ferreira, S., 2016. Combating Rhino Horn Trafficking: The Need to Disrupt Criminal Networks. PLoS ONE , 11(11).
Henk, D., 2005. The Botswana Defence Force and the War against Poachers in Southern Africa. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 16(2), pp. 170-191.
Konopo, J., Ntibinyane, N. & Mongudhi, T., 2016. Botswana's 'shoot-to-kill policy' against suspected poachers. [Online]
Available at: http://mg.co.za/article/2016-03-16-botswanas-shoot-to-kill-policy-against-suspected-poachers
[Accessed 20 January 2017].
Leader-Williams, N. & E.J, M.-G., 1993. Policies for the Enforcement of Wildlife Laws: The Balance between Detection and Penalties in Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Conservation Biology, 7(3), pp. 611-617.
Lepetu, J. & Garekae, H., 2015. Attitudes of Local Communities towards Forest Management Practices in Botswana: The Case Study of Kasane Forest Reserve. International Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 5(2), pp. 138-145.
Lunstrum, E., 2014. Green Militarisation: Anti-Poaching efforts and the spatial contours of Kruger National Park. Annals of Association of American Geographers, 104(4), pp. 816-832.
Maisels, F. et al., 2013. Devastating Decline of Forest Elephants in Central Africa. PLoS ONE, 8(3).
Marijnena, E. & Verweijenb, J., 2016. Selling green militarization: The discursive (re)production of militarized conservation in the Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Geoforum, Volume 7, pp. 274-285.
Mathiesen, K., 2016. The Guardian. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/21/no-south-africa-hasnt-turned-the-tide-on-its-rhino-poaching-crisis
[Accessed 8 Feburary 2017].
Messer, K., 2010. Protecting endangered species: When are shoot-on-sight policies the only viable option to stop poaching?. Ecological Economics, Volume 69, pp. 2334-2340.
Milliken, T. & Shaw, J., 2012. The South Africa—Vietnam rhino horn trade nexus: A deadly combination of institutional lapses, corrupt wildlife industry professionals and Asian crime syndicates, Johannesburg: TRAFFIC.
Mosikare, O. & Mnguni, M., 2017. Broke Tourism Ministry fails to pays the dead, Gaborone: Mmegi.
Neumann, R., 2001. Disciplining peasants in Tanzania: From state violence to self-surveillance in wildlife conservation state violence. In: N. Peluso & M. Watts, eds. Violent Environments. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, p. 305–327.
O’Donoghue, P. & Rutz, C., 2016. Real-time anti-poaching tags could help prevent imminent species extinctions. Journal of Applied Ecology , Volume 5, pp. 5-10.
Parry, D. & Campbell, B., 1992. Attitudes of rural communities to animal wildlife and its utilization in Chobe Enclave and Mababe Depression, Botswana. Environmental Conservation , 19(3), pp. 245-251.
Raxter, P. A., 2015. Wildlife Crime and Other Challenges to Resource System Resilience, Norfolk: Old Dominion University.
Saayman, M. & Saayman, A., 2017. Is the rhino worth saving? A sustainable tourism perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(2), pp. 251-264.
Seretse, L., 2016. SADC Backs ‘Shoot To Kill’ Strategy. [Online]
Available at: http://www.oscap.co.za/sadc-backs-shoot-to-kill-strategy/
[Accessed 20 February 2017].
Shaw, J., 2011. Black Rhino: An Endangered Species, Johannesburg: TRAFFIC, East/Southern Africa.
Tatham, G. & Taylor, R., 1989. The conservation and protection of the black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis in Zimbabwe. KOEDOE, 32(2), pp. 31-42.
Tebele, M., 2016. US lawmakers call on Botswana to abolish anti-poaching shoot to kill policy. [Online]
Available at: https://southernafrican.news/2016/03/01/us-lawmakers-call-on-botswana-to-abolish-anti-poaching-shoot-to-kill-policy/
[Accessed 1 February 2017].
Witting, T., 2016. Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking and Organised Crime. Whitehall Papers, 86(1), pp. 77-101.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Author and Institute for Security Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
SACQ is licenced under a creative commons licence (CC BY) that allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long a they give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Copyright for articles published is vested equally between the author/s, the Institute for Security Studies and the Centre of Criminology (UCT).
.png){kind=spacer}