Several Members of Parliament have criticised the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism for what they describe as discriminatory hunting regulations, a failure to combat poaching effectively, and a lack of local beneficiation.
Works and Transport Minister Veikko Nekundi took issue with the ministry's hunting laws, which he says disadvantage rural residents.
He pointed out that while commercial farmers are permitted to kill certain wildlife, rural communities are not even allowed to hunt small game and not even to harvest mopane worms.
"They can kill our kudus; apparently, it's ours because it's for the state. But they make money from them. Yet even now, a rural person cannot even kill a wild dove. They get arrested for harvesting mopane worms. There is something wrong with us as Black people governing this country. Something is fundamentally wrong, and it must be addressed."
IPC's Rodrick Likando also voiced concern over government's prioritisation of the Etosha National Park at the expense of other national parks.
"The state has 20 national parks. Out of these, the government is concentrating all resources on Etosha. Yet, despite this, the state is losing the poaching battle in that very park."
Likando questioned the ministry's plans for the upgrading of the other 19 national parks.
Deputy Minister of International Relations and Trade, Jenelly Matundu, welcomed the increase in compensation for losses due to human-wildlife conflict.
"Compensation has increased from N$5,000 to N$8,000 as of 1 April 2025. My proposal is that going forward, we should assess the actual value of the animal lost and compensate accordingly to provide real relief to farmers."
Leader of the Official Opposition in parliament, Immanuel Nashinge, took issue with Namibia's practice of donating wild animals to other countries.
"You are giving away our wild animals to countries like the UAE and India. In doing so, we're destroying our tourism industry. If we have too many wild animals, instead of exporting them, we can slaughter and provide the meat to our hungry people."
National Democratic Party leader Martin Lukato also weighed in, saying conservancies are largely controlled by foreigners.
"Conservancies were created by foreigners, and they still control them. So, who benefits from Namibia's resources? Certainly not the ordinary people in the villages. It's mainly foreigners and those in power."
In response, Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Indileni Daniel, acknowledged the concerns and said the ministry is working on amendments to the existing law.
She also noted that the Wildlife and Protected Areas Bill will be tabled in due course.
"The Nature Conservation Act was amended in 1995 to allow communities to benefit from wildlife conservation. That's the law we are implementing. Yes, if there are loopholes, we can amend it, not just for the sake of amending. Currently, we have 86 conservancies with over 350 Namibians in communal areas benefitting from wildlife."