Recent German media coverage has sharply refocused attention on the growing international divide over elephant management and sustainable use. A widely read article published by BILD reported comments by Botswana’s Minister of Environment, Tourism and Wildlife, Wynter Boipuso Mmolotsi, highlighting the pressures faced by elephant range states and what he described as Europe’s reluctance to engage with African-led solutions.
According to the interview, Minister Mmolotsi stated that Botswana could “send” up to 40,000 elephants to Germany, should Europeans wish to experience first-hand the consequences of living alongside large and expanding elephant populations. While clearly rhetorical, the remark was intended to draw attention to the scale of human–wildlife conflict in Botswana, where elephants damage crops, destroy infrastructure and, in some cases, cause human fatalities.
The comments were explicitly linked to Germany’s continued opposition to any reopening of regulated international ivory trade, including discussions under CITES. Minister Mmolotsi described this position as neo-colonial and argued that Botswana is being denied the opportunity to generate its own conservation revenue through tightly controlled and certified mechanisms. Botswana currently holds approximately 160 tonnes of government-owned ivory, largely derived from natural mortality, which must be stored and guarded at considerable cost.
The article also addressed Germany’s new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, referencing his stated ambition to renew Germany’s Africa policy. Minister Mmolotsi formally invited Chancellor Merz, together with Germany’s Environment and Development Ministers, to visit Gaborone and engage directly with Botswana’s leadership on developing pragmatic, science-based approaches to elephant management. He pointed to Botswana’s internationally recognised diamond certification system as a potential model for transparent and accountable wildlife trade governance.
Importantly, these statements were made in parallel with Minister Mmolotsi’s personal presence at Jagd & Hund in Dortmund, where he engaged directly with European hunting organisations, conservation stakeholders and members of the international policy community. His participation at Europe’s largest hunting exhibition underlined Botswana’s willingness to engage openly with European audiences and to explain first-hand the realities faced by countries managing abundant wildlife populations.
From the CIC’s perspective, this episode highlights a recurring fault line in international conservation policy. Elephant populations in parts of Southern Africa are increasing precisely because of decades of conservation investment. Treating abundance as a political inconvenience rather than a management challenge risks undermining biodiversity outcomes and eroding local tolerance for wildlife.
Sustainable use, when science-based, transparent and community-oriented, remains one of the tools available to reconcile conservation success with coexistence. The Botswana–Germany debate illustrates why international wildlife policy must move beyond symbolism and engage seriously with the realities faced by range states and rural communities on the front line of conservation.
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Full article (German):
https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland-und-internationales/botswana-droht-merz-jetzt-soll-deutschland-sogar-40-000-elefanten-aufnehmen-697b93f3e0862a349aeb582f
Media Contact
Tristan Breijer MBA FRGS FRSA MCIJ
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
CIC – International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation
Email: tristan.breijer@cic-wildlife.org
Mobile: +44 781 408 7423
Website: www.cic-wildlife.org
