🗓️ Published on: 04/12/2025
The Fight for Environmental Awareness Enters a Breaking-Point Phase
Barely had the ink dried on the national statement issued on 1 December 2025 by the National Committee for Environment, Forests and Climate (CNEFC/COSYFOP)—a stark alarm call to save what remains of Algeria’s wildlife—when a wave of fierce, coordinated attacks erupted from certain hunting associations, denouncing the Committee’s position as “hostile” and “unrealistic.”
This aggressive backlash—expected as it was—reveals one undeniable fact: the statement hit its mark and exposed what many preferred to keep hidden.
The “Environmental Partner” Excuse: Reality or Convenient Fiction?
In their agitated responses, several hunting associations — according to posts circulating on social media — claim that hunters are “key partners in environmental protection,” and that the Environmental and Forestry Protection Committee’s statement merely “covers up its own failures.” But this raises an obvious question: Where was this supposed “partnership” during the silent extermination of Algeria’s wildlife over the past quarter century? Is “environmental partnership” meant to include hunting during breeding seasons? Does it include chasing exhausted animals during severe droughts when they are already struggling to survive?
Talking about “responsible hunting” in the current catastrophic state of our forests and steppes is pure fantasy. The reality on the ground, as observed by provincial committees in Constantine, Guelma, Tiaret, and elsewhere, documents devastated forests, laid traps, and four-wheel-drive vehicles wreaking havoc—not the “partners maintaining ecological balance” they claim to be.
Why Does a Hunting Ban Frighten Them So Much?
Hunting associations rushed to label the proposed “five-year hunting ban” as a decision that “has no scientific basis.” Yet science — and basic logic — say exactly the opposite: when a species is facing the threat of mass collapse (the precise term used in our statement), the first and universally accepted measure is an immediate halt to hunting, allowing nature the biological rest it desperately needs to recover.
Their rejection of this proposal — and their attempt to portray it as an attack on their so-called “legitimate rights” — reveals a purely consumerist mindset, one that treats wildlife as a commodity or a recreational pastime rather than as part of an ecosystem taking its last breaths.
Defending the Future — Not the Firearm
**Portraying the Committee’s statement as an attempt to “demonize hunters” is nothing more than a desperate attempt to derail the real debate. Our position was explicit: we oppose illegal and unregulated hunting, we oppose lawlessness, and we oppose the abuses of those who enjoy influence and impunity. So if these associations genuinely oppose illegal hunting — as they claim — why did they erupt in anger at a statement calling for tougher sanctions and dismantling hunting lobbies? Shouldn’t a true “environmental partner” welcome the proposal for a dedicated hotline to report violations, rather than attack it?
Our Message Is Unwavering: History Will Record This Moment
The National Committee for Environment, Forests and Climate (COSYFOP) affirms that smear campaigns will not deter it from fulfilling its duty. We are not here to appease hunting enthusiasts; we are here to answer to our conscience and to future generations — generations that deserve to see a gazelle running free, or a bird soaring over Algeria’s skies, not preserved as trophies in someone’s “hunting memories.”
Today’s battle is not between the Environmental, Forest and Climate Protection Committee and hunters. It is a battle between a consciousness that recognizes the danger ahead and narrow interests that refuse to see beyond the barrel of a gun.
Protecting our wildlife is a responsibility we all share — and, in the end, the field will deliver the final verdict.
Download the statement in Arabic
Download the statement in English
Download the statement in French
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