The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has increased payments for the human-wildlife conflict self-reliance scheme, effective 1 September this year.

The announcement was made by MEFT minister Pohamba Shifeta at a press conference on Monday.

Compensation for funeral expenses will, however, remain at N$100 000, while permanent disability payments will increase from N$50 000 to N$100 000.

Persons injured by wild animals but who have not incurred body part losses will now be given an amount of N$15 000 – up from the current N$10 000.

Compensation for injury with loss of body parts will increase from the current N$30 000 to N$40 000.

A farmer will receive N$5 000 for every cow loss, N$800 for a goat, N$800 for a sheep, N$1500 for a horse, N$1 000 for a donkey and N$1 000 for a pig.

For crop damages, the ministry will compensate N$500 for one quarter of a hectare and N$2 000 for one hectare.

“Payment related to expenses for human death cannot be increased for now, as this was increased from N$5 000 in 2009 to N$100 000 in 2018. The amount of N$100 000 is also sufficient to cover funeral expenses. The anticipated impact will be to effectively support communities, individuals and farmers who suffer losses and damages caused by wild animals through the revised offset payments,” Shifeta noted.

He said consultations to increase the payments under the human-wildlife conflict self-reliance scheme were done during the National Conference in May last year, which included Cabinet. -Nampa