By Dr Adam Cruise
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It has been stated ad nauseum that trophy hunting brings in necessary revenue for remote rural communities, and that the practice also provides assistance in increasing wildlife populations and mitigates human wildlife conflict, especially with elephants. However, as this investigation and countless previous analyses and studies have shown, trophy hunting not only fails to provide any meaningful revenue for most individuals residing in and alongside Community Based Natural Resource Management areas but contributes to a potential collapse of elephant populations and fails to mitigate the incidences of elephant conflict scenarios. In short, trophy hunting in Botswana achieves the opposite of what its proponents proclaim.