Submission to South African Parliament challenging proposed “Wildlife Economy”

At this critical turning point for humanity and the planet, at a time when South Africa and the world attempt to drag ourselves out of the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic, this critically important submission to the South African Government illustrates a model of true leadership, one which respects Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and thereby places the regeneration of our living Earth at the center of all decisions affecting our mutual future. Drafted with the support of international legal firms (https://www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org/ and https://naturaljustice.org/), and supported by NGOs representing all strata of civic-society, this submission challenges the South African government’s so-called “Wildlife Economy” model as it currently stands: a post-colonial consumptive and extractive use agenda, which brutally commoditises wild animals, including lions, leopard, elephants, rhino and has reclassified 33 wild animals under the Agriculture Act, effectively making them available for human consumption.
 
Not only is it  unethical, unecological and fundamentally unsustainable, the consumption of lions contravenes Nature’s Law, and therefore risks another global pandemic. 
A High Level Advisory Panel has been established by Government to drive this agenda forward. With the full life-force of the Worldwide Indigenous Peoples Governance CHARTER behind it, this submission shows another way.

Click here to read the full submission